Philosopher views
WHY MALCOLM REJECTS CIVIL RIGHTS AS A VALUE/CRITERIA
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- MALCOLM X ON REVOLUTION (CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE)
WHY MALCOLM REJECTS CIVIL RIGHTS AS A VALUE/CRITERIAThe reasons for Malcolm’s rejection of a civil rights based strategy (including attempts to desegregate schools and protect equal opportunity at the workplace, etc.) are several-fold. First, civil rights originate from the value system of those in power – the oppressors. In contrast, human rights stem from the inherent dignity of people all around the world. According to Malcolm, endorsing civil rights was to endorse the value system of the oppressor which is, in essence, to endorse the value of oppression. Thus rights grounded in the U.S. Constitution or other bodies of laws are inherently oppressive. Second, civil rights are administered within the jurisdiction of a particular nation state. The judiciary, legislature, and various enforcement agencies are free to diminish, distort, and in any other way tamper with the rules to further the oppression of minorities. Endorsing these rights is therefore not only futile, it is inherently degrading as it supports the ability of the oppressor to remain in control of the minorities’ future. Human rights are enforced internationally, where the oppressor cannot manipulate the rules and perpetuate dominance. Third, the civil rights strategy absolves oppressors of any wrongdoing. By granting civil rights to the black minority, Malcolm believed the United States government was able to assert its own moral virtuousness, thus washing its hands of any guilt. In contrast, human rights claims taken to the United Nations could expose the wrong-doing of the U.S. before the entire world, forcing it to change its policies in some meaningful fashion. The bottom line for Malcolm was finding a way to expose the U.S. government’s racism in order to achieve a just and lasting way of life for himself and black America that would eliminate perceived and real inequalities. Fourth, as opposed to civil rights, human rights claims recognize the criminal nature of the U.S.’s oppression of blacks in America. Malcolm firmly believed that slavery and its aftermath (Jim Crow laws, segregation, etc.) were profound crimes against humanity which must be dealt with as such. Civil Rights laws functionally remove any possibility of criminal recognition or prosecution, not just against the government, but against private enterprises as well. Business can, if they so desire, simply pay fines when found in violation of various civil rights laws, unless the government is willing to throw them in jail—which seems unlikely. Fifth, civil rights strategies, according to Malcolm, divide oppressed groups artificially along national sovereignty lines. Oppression of blacks, for example, was not limited solely to the United States. Slavery began at the hands of several European nations, and continued in the form of colonization of the African continent. In order to combat this oppression, then, Malcolm believed blacks in America must find allies in the colonial world. This belief was particularly powerful during Malcolm’s time since the newly emerging African nations were throwing off the chains of colonization in the 1940s and 1950s. Finally, Malcolm believed that the choice between civil rights and human rights, including the choice of the appropriate forum in which to challenge oppression, was fundamentally a moral choice which could taint or enhance the ultimate goal of equality. If the battle was waged through civil rights, black Americans suppressed their inherent dignity by supplicating themselves to the white men running the country. To do so involved such self-degradation that Malcolm was unwilling to make the slightest concession in this regard. MALCOLM X ON REVOLUTION (CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE)Since Malcolm eschewed civil rights tactics in the United States, he strongly supported acts of civil disobedience and revolution, including, if necessary, violence against those in power. Malcolm’s views on this matter were quite clear, and changed very little throughout his lifetime. This stance on revolution has caused many commentators to depict Malcolm as a violent activist who taught hatred and violence to blacks living in America during the Civil Rights Era. This conception of Malcolm’s work, however, obscures his many important points regarding civil disobedience, violence and revolution in the U.S. First, whether or not he advocated revolution is somewhat irrelevant since Malcolm believed revolution was an inevitable result of the long history of black oppression at the hands of whites in the United States society and government. Given two hundred years of slavery and another eighty years of Jim Crow and segregation laws in the United States, Malcolm believed that some form of revolution designed to reclaim dignity and humanity for blacks in America would come no matter how hard those in control might fight it. Malcolm characterized black power and revolution as “chickens coming home to roost” – do evil unto others, and evil shall be don unto you. Second, Malcolm frequently argued for equality on the basis that it was the only avenue through which the United States could avoid a violent revolution. For instance, in his famous “The Ballot or The Bullet” speech, Malcolm argues that unless the whites in power give negroes the power to vote, a revolution is inevitable. The government has a choice: the ballot or the bullet. Third, Malcolm thought revolution was the only realistic way that blacks could achieve equality. If civil rights are a rigged game, as Malcolm argued they were, then playing by the master’s rules could never achieve true equality. Instead, a separate nation, a return to Africa, or a revolution to remove power from the hands of the oppressors were the only viable options for achieving a racially just society. Fourth, since human rights ought to be valued above those rights granted (or denied) by the one’s own oppressive government. Civil disobedience in order to achieve human rights was not only justified in Malcolm’s view, it was necessary to achieve the equality and inherent dignity that every child, woman, and man deserves. For Malcolm, one must keep in mind the end goal—human rights—on every action or moral decision and opt for the path or means which best promotes that end. 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