Racial Bias To Stand Against Racism

One who stands for racism, argues for equal rights and better treatment. But, can biased opinions be a good way to stand against it? Malcolm X is considered as a public activist against racism in the United States. At one point in the many changes in his life, he decided to “devote the rest of my life to telling the white man about himself- or die” (188). This is because of his past experiences with white people that led to many devastations in his life including losing his father, having his mother get taken away, and being told he couldn’t be a layer because of his race.

He was told to “be realistic” by his teacher, Mr. Ostrowski. It was at this point where he would become a minister in the nation of Islam and share both his and Mr. Elijah Muhammeds beliefs about the white people. However, he only shared his perspective on the white people believing they would never do anything good for the people of color. I believe these bias opinions were not a great way to stand against racism because it only made matters worse and some of these issues were ignored. While Malcolm X was staying true to his word to make a stand for negroes and against whites, he only had one common perspective towards white people- antagonists. These opinions he stated such as “The white man doesn’t want the blacks! He doesn’t want the blacks that are a parasite upon him!” (245) and “Our enemy is the white man!”. (256) were one-sided and considerably racist. Although these words were from Mr. Elijah Muhammed and past experiences, they were taken as truth. This led to remarks from the white people finding these sermons racist. “And they brought us new attacks from the white man and his black puppets. ‘Black segregationists… racists!” (253). I agree with this quote brought on by the whites because the sermons tended to be racist at times. They spread conflicts across America because they were deemed cruel and racist. Mr. Elijah Muhammed told Malcolm X that the death threats and oppositions he received regarding his sermons were only because of fame.

This is demonstrated when he states “But, Brother Malcolm, there is something you need to know. You will grow to be hated when you become well known. Because usually, people get jealous of public figures” (270). I disagree with what Muhammed said to Malcolm because most of the threats toward Malcolm X were because of the claims he spoke about and all his biased beliefs. They were biased in a way that shut out all white people from ever proving themselves as good people. This is proven when a white woman remarks at Malcolm X asking if he believes that there are white people who can make a change. She stated “Don’t you believe there are any good white people? ’ I didn’t want to hurt her feelings. I told her, ‘People’s deeds I believe in, Miss-not their words. ” (292). In the next paragraph, she asks “What can I do? ”. . . “I told her nothing”(292). This comes to show that Malcolm X never had the open mind at the time to really believe that not all whites were bad. Malcolm X may have had the goal to tell the white person about himself through the teachings of Elijah Muhammed at the time. However, these one sided teachings were not always positively impactful as it affected the “black puppets” working for the white men and those who found these sermons racist and truthful. The sermons caused some extra conflicts and I believe they should have been more open minded and not expected to be truthful before being presented.