Malcolm X was an American Muslim minister that took part as a civil rights leader, in 1963, with his views of taking a more violent approach to the fight against segregation, while on the other hand, his fellow civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr., believed that violence is never the answer. On November 10th, 1963, Malcolm delivered one of his famous speeches,  "Message to the Grassroots", in order to have the black community understand that they all had similarities and should accept his idea of having a more violent method. Malcolm describes major key points that influence the audience to unite as one and follow his footsteps into having a revolution that consisted of violence in order to gain equality. In his speech, he discusses the common enemy, the difference between the house and field Negro, the March on Washington, and the difference between the black and Negro revolution. In this essay, the main points of Malcolm's  "Message to the Grassroots" will be discussed along with the contradiction of the speech.

In his speech, Malcolm gives the point of the black community, as a whole, is more similar than they think. In his speech, he discusses one of the things they all have in common, the common enemy, white people, and how they share a common ancestors. Malcolm explains that putting religions and political standpoints aside, the people of the African American community are all the same. He uses the examples from the Bandung Conference back in 1955, when Africa and Asia were sharing their common enemy: Europe. In "Message to the Grassroots", Malcolm also describes their common ancestors, the house and field Negros. He explains that the house Negros had more authority and more benefits than the field Negros. " The house Negroes - they lived in the house with master, they dressed pretty good, they ate good 'cause they ate his food   what he left. They lived in the attic or the basement, but still they lived near the master; and they loved their master more than the master loved himself. They would give their life to save the master's house quicker than the master would. The house Negro, if the master said, 'We got a good house here,' the house Negro would say, 'Yeah, we got a good house here." Whenever the master said 'we,' he said 'we.' That's how you can tell a house Negro," ("Message to the Grassroots").  The field Negros worked out in the yard, and did the hard physical labor, while the house Negros took care of the kids while the parents were away. Malcolm X explain that the field Negro was hard at work from morning until dusk making sure that the land is how the owner wants it. Malcolm tries to bring these two things together to make the audience understand that they are one instead of just a variety of different people who can do something about equality. In conclusion, Malcolm made valid points in addressing the argument to make it affective and influence the African American community.

In "Message to the Grassroots", Malcolm discusses the differentiation between the black and Negro revolution. To the people of the black community, a revolution is a word that is used loosely when describing a fight involving bloodshed and violence. The Negro revolution is the term that Malcolm used when describing Martin Luther King's peace movement. Malcolm X thought that the "Negro Revolution" was ineffective in addressing the issue of equality; he preferred a more violent and aggressive approach. The black revolution is just the opposite of the Negro revolution; it was X's way of addressing the issue in a more "effective" way. 

In contradiction to "Message to the Grassroots", are many of Martin Luther King's speeches. Martin Luther King, born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia in 1929, was a civil rights leader that believed in the act of peace. He believed that violence was cruel and unnecessary in addressing the problem of segregation because it caused non-important bloodshed and problems just to get worse. King organized peace movements like the March on Washington to avoid any bloodshed to be drawn. More than 200,000 white and black Americans joined together in the fight against segregation; songs were shared, along with prayers and King's famous "I Have A Dream" speech later influenced people to believe that it will get better. "The march was an unprecedented success. More than 200,000 black and white American shared a joyous day of speeches, songs, and prayers led by a celebrated array of clergymen, civil rights leaders, politicians, and entertainers. The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King's soaring address climaxed the day; through his eloquence, the phrase "I Have A Dream" became an expression of the highest aspirations of the civil rights movement," ("March on Washington"). In conclusion, Martin Luther King Jr. contradicted Malcolm X's views in order to bring peace in a faster manner. 

Upon his death in 1965, Malcolm believed that a violent revolution would be the answer to all African American prayers. He came to the conclusion that they all shared similarities, ancestors and the common enemy, and he discusses the differences between the field and house Negro, the black and negro revolution, and the March on Washington and how it was informative and beneficial towards the audience. He was a man of war, so to speak, unlike his fellow civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr. In Malcolm's speech, "Message to the Grassroots", the entire meaning behind it was to influence the black community to rise up and stand against segregation in a violent manner. However, in the end, Malcolm came up unsuccessful for his grand scheme in making the country non-segregated. 

