Background of mlk:
Martin Luther King focused more on non violent protests as a civil rights activist. Martin Luther King’s dream of living together with white America seems to be a more favorable way of living, even though it turned out to be a much harder dream to achieve. This separate lifestyle of either black America or white America sounds like a terrible way to live, but an easy lifestyle to slip into. Through Martin Luther King’s peaceful protests and speeches (even if they were only one sidedly peaceful) America as a whole was able to create many rights and beliefs that jump started an unsegregated America (still not complete). I believe that if Martin Luther King was still around to see the radical changes today that he would be proud, yet he would still work hard to continue to promote an unsegregated America.
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that" - Martin Luther King Jr.
Background of Malcolm x:
Malcolm X felt that integration would destroy the black and the white man. He felt that the black Americans should be focusing more on helping each other rather than solving their issues with white America. Malcolm X strongly disagreed with Martin Luther King’s dream, calling it a nightmare. If Malcolm X were to still be around to see the changes and efforts that America has made, I believe that he would continue to support his radical belief that black America should be far superior to white America.
"Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone; but if someone puts his hand on you, send him to the cemetery" - Malcolm X
Compare and contrast:
Who was more effective?
Looking back in history, generally the more successful movements are not based on a violence, and instead, a lack of it. For social change, peace is usually the way to go, and violence is better suited for larger changes, for example declaring independence like we did on the revolutionary war. One major reason for this, is that peace is better since it allows the change to go over well between all groups of people and have less grudges and issues that will come about at a later time. People say that holding grudges is the same as letting someone live in your head, rent free, which essentially just provokes more issues at a later time and causes unneeded stress. Due to this, we believe that Martin Luther King Jr. was more effective, making his approach smarter due to his simple and direct movement for change without violence.