In 20th century, there was a problem at the west of the earth’s map, in American’s history. People in that part of the world were separated by the race, such as blacks and whites. Whites were kings, and Blacks were slaves. So blacks were fighting for freedom and equality between them and whites. By surfing in depth and looking back to the history, we can see that the revolution of Blacks did not start with no reasons. One of the reasons that played a major role in this revolution movement is the public speeches that used to be given by many of the American civil rights activists. Two of the most famous American civil rights activists are Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Both speeches were given at the same year, 1963. But Martin Luther King Jr. gave his speech before Malcolm X and it is more famous than the Malcolm’s one. “I have a dream” is Martin Luther King’s speech that was during the March on Washington for jobs and freedom on 28th of August 1963. He called for an end to racism in the United States of America and for civil and economic rights (Hansen). However, in November 10th, 1963, Malcolm X delivered his famous speech “Message to The Grassroots” in Detroit, Michigan at the Northern Negro Grass Roots Leadership Conference that was held in the King Solomon Baptist Church. According to Brielle Edwards, X had different perspectives than MLK. “King wanted all the races to come together for the hatred and violence to be put to a halt.” However, X felt that integration would destroy the black and the white man. He felt that American blacks should be more concerned with helping each other. He felt blacks should start by giving the same race self-respect first. He did not agree with what King had to say, he felt that kings dream was not a dream but a nightmare.” So today we can see the differences between the time of past racism and the current time, how the equality is appearing to everyone in the world. But still we can see and face some problems in today’s life. For example, I can see some churches for whites and others for blacks. Also in between time and time we can see a violence of killing between whites and blacks and the reason is the race (but not always as I said). Now, when we put Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech in conversation with Malcolm X’s “Message to the Grassroots” speech, it encourages American citizens to embrace their freedom by many language’s elements in both speeches such as, repetition, and serious tone. 

First of all, both Martin Luther King speech and Malcolm X speech included many repetitions. Starting with Martin Luther king (MLK) speech, the most famous repetition he had is “I have a dream”, and because of his repeating it, it was the title of his speech. In repeating these words, he’s not stating his dream and want people to help him to reach this dream, but he’s trying to awake all people from their sleep and reminding them about the bad reality they were living and how to get a good life, so they can feel how the new life will be comfortable. Then, he went to repeat “We can never be satisfied” in “We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one.” Here we can see that MLK turned to say “We” instead of “I”, so audience can know that this is not his problem but everyone’s problem and all of them should work to solve. MLK used many other repetitions such as “Go back”, “With this faith”, and “Let freedom ring” and more. According to Sarah Lloyd-Hughes, “The intensity of King’s speech is built through bold statements and rhythmic repetition. Each repetition builds on the one before and is reinforced by Martin Luther King’s ever increasing passion.” In another side, Malcolm X used repetition too. He used it when he said: 

“You don’t catch hell ’cause you’re a Baptist, and you don’t catch hell ’cause you’re a Methodist. You don’t catch hell ’cause you’re a Methodist or Baptist. You don’t catch hell because you’re a Democrat or a Republican. You don’t catch hell because you’re a Mason or an Elk. And you sure don’t catch hell ’cause you’re an American; ’cause if you was an American, you wouldn’t catch no hell. You catch hell ’cause you’re a black man. You catch hell, all of us catch hell, for the same reason.”

Catch hell is an idiom means to be scolded. X was repeating these word to blame black people on what they doing to themselves. Trying to make them understand that they are Americans and they are catching hell and the should not. His using to this idiom is very successful because it reminds everyone about what they are facing because of the racism that was happening. Moreover, X repeated words “we” and “Common” in "We have a common enemy. We have this in common: We have a common oppressor, a common exploiter, and a common discriminator. But once we all realize that we have this common enemy, then we unite on the basis of what we have in common. And what we have foremost in common is that enemy" for the same reason that MLK used. Because it helps people understanding and knowing their one problem, their one enemy, so they unite to finish up this problem and be equal. 

Secondly, tone is one of the language elements that plays as a major role on clarifying the speeches in general. Usually, it gives the mood of the speech, and the mood affects the presenter’s way of continuing the speech, and affects the audiences’ mood and their reaction when they hear the words. In “I Have a Dream” for MLK, the tone where clear and has a rhythm. A rhythm built on the repetition that MLK has in his speech. He was very calm but serious at the same time. Proving this is when he was repeating “there is no time to…”. “Martin Luther King used powerful, evocative language to draw emotional connection to his audience” (Sarah Lloyd-Hughes).as we can realize this from his speech lines when he said: “Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.”, and “This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.” But Malcolm X was not calm as MLK; he was more sharp in his voice while he was giving the speech. The seriousness of his tone was appearing in the violence words he was mentioning in the speech. For example, when he said:

“You bleed for white people. But when it comes time to seeing your own churches being bombed and little black girls be murdered, you haven’t got no blood. You bleed when the white man says bleed; you bite when the white man says bite; and you bark when the white man says bark. I hate to say this about us, but it’s true. How are you going to be nonviolent in Mississippi, as violent as you were in Korea? How can you justify being nonviolent in Mississippi and Alabama, when your churches are being bombed, and your little girls are being murdered, and at the same time you’re going to violent with Hitler, and Tojo,and somebody else that you don’t even know?”

Here we can feel his words that were well chosen when he used word such as like “black girls be murdered”, “bleed for white people”, and “bombed”. Those words work perfectly on attracting the audience emotions and feeling. They play in their hearts to move, work, and start the revolution. Moreover, the serious tone that Malcolm X have showed us his long vision of the problem he was trying to solve. He was not just caring about Blacks in America, but he included all Blacks in all around the world and this prove to us his seriousness in the situation. We can see this in his speech: “That though one African came from Kenya and was being colonized by the Englishman, and another African came from the Congo and was being colonized by the Belgian, and another African came from Guinea and was being colonized by the French, and another came from Angola and was being colonized by the Portuguese.”  So Malcolm X wanted the equality not just in nation, but internationally. 

In conclusion, this essay is on Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech in conversation with Malcolm X’s “Message to the Grassroots” speech. Both Martin Luther king and Malcolm X were trying to start a revolution of black people to get their freedom at the mid of 20th century.  This conversation between their two speeches encourages American citizens to embrace their freedom by many language’s elements in both speeches such as, repetition, and serious tone. 
