Malcolm X: Complications Of The Civil Rights Movement

During the civil rights era, there were many complications within the African-American community when it came to fighting for their freedom. Many people were understanding and helpful with the idea of protesting peacefully, but on the other hand, people within the community objected to this ideal and had different plans and methods to solve the problem. As time when on more, and more people joined the battle for civil rights. The more they joined the more the conflicts within the movement began to arise. Whether it was right, or wrong to have whites work with blacks in their battle for civil rights or having a younger new generation, like Malcolm X and Stokely Carmichael. Both bringing questionable methods that differentiate from John Lewis’ methods when it came
to finding a solution to the problem.
Within the SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) whites were working with blacks to achieve the same goal, for freedom and equality. In the beginning, the people in the groups were glad that some white people had joined the group because it showed that even the so called “enemy” had people that noticed the inequality and wanted to change the wrong in society, too support the cause that is happening now. Some of the people that were in the SNCC were skeptical about this idea, whites working with black to achieve the same objective, but learned to appreciate what these people were doing for them. New people began to join and protests occurred frequently with aggressiveness, but with the same intentions of non-violence. The government was now facing many complications, as a result, Robert Kennedy purposed too them that instead of continuing with the protests, to aim towards their voting rights.
After Martin Luther King Jr. accepted this option that Robert Kennedy purposed to him and followed it, people within the SNCC began questioning and having their thoughts about what was going on. As the decision to push towards voting rights began, the group was no longer as strongly connected as it used to be, it was now being divided. New, younger people started to join the SNCC, but this younger generation had different ideas. One of the new activists, Stokely Carmichael, began with the same intentions as John Lewis and Martin Luther King Jr. but he noticed that all the efforts of protesting where getting little results in a long period of time that he was now thinking differently. Carmichael successfully became the head of the SNCC. Now that Carmichael was the leader, he began to say that people should have the right to defend themselves if they get struck, that violence is okay. He also had the idea to segregate the SNCC. The situation of having black work with whites to fight for civil rights, was no longer something Carmichael wanted. It wasn’t right for both whites and black to fight for the same goal. “Black Power” is what he chanted, it’s what he wanted.
The phrase of black power reached out too many people involved in the civil rights movement, one of those people being Malcolm X.
Malcolm was also one of the new, upcoming generation that supported the idea of using violence in order to solve the problem. There were many complications and arguments between the new generation and the old. His ideas went against those of John Lewis and Martin Luther king Jr. Malcolm became famous for what he was doing, as though he was some sort of celebrity. Malcolm and Stokely Carmichael shared the same ideals of using any means necessary, including violence to accomplish their goals and get results in a faster pace. John Lewis respected Malcolm’s ideals by saying “I knew Malcolm. I respected him. Still, I never felt like he was part of the movement” (Lewis et al pg.149). Even though the new generation was restless and more aggressive towards their freedom, the older generation, John Lewis understood the feelings behind why Malcolm would act the way he did. “But I could understand his appeal, and the feelings of restlessness that drove it” (Lewis et al pg.149). Both generations were fighting for the same goal, but each side had different approaches towards the
solution.
There were many complications within the civil rights movement as well as the outside of it. Stokely Carmichael wanting to segregate the SNCC and Malcolm X using any means necessary, including violence to achieve freedom. This new, upcoming generation may have not shared the same methods of achieving civil rights as John Lewis and Martin Luther King JR. Ultimately given the circumstances of the problems that were occurring within the civil rights movement, whether it be different ideas on how to solve the problem or how they approached and worked towards a solution, every person kept their minds towards the same goal. The goal of freedom.