Martin vs. Malcolm: The Olive Branch and The Arrow

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35 years before Biggie vs. Tupac, and generations after Dubois vs. Garvey & Washington, the two leading African American minds, of their generation, engaged in an exhibition of philosophies. The reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. “actively sought out to attack injustice by creating a crisis, bringing the hidden violence of the system to the surface, and restructuring the institutions of society”(Dr. Allen Webb) and thus bring about equality for his people. While the revolutionary Malcolm X (later Malcolm El-Hajj Malik Shabazz) called for Black Nationalism in hopes that an awakened Black people would acquire equality on their own. This essay is not a referendum focusing on the ways in which their philosophies differed. This is a retrospective analysis of the speeches, lives, and times of MLK and Malcolm X. It will show that as with Biggie and Tupac, Dubois, Garvey, and Washington an amalgamation of philosophies and followers would not have only been possible but beneficial to all parties involved, especially African Americans. The core of this text will debunk the current mythologies surrounding their personages and philosophies and uplift these kings to their rightful places, to be seen for what they were great men, but still men and “flawed” like all others.

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