Post B.

For this post, I'd like to talk about my book. It is the autobiography of Malcolm X, who, if you didn't know, was pretty much the oppisite of Martin Luther King jr. in the sense of how to gain rights. Martin was pro peaceful rallies, Malcolm was all for sending in gorriella fighters to fight those who were trying to put themselves above a certain race of people. I like the book so far, Malcolm does an excellent job of stating the dead truth, he doesn't seem to exaggerate anything. Because of this, it makes the book better, because even though i've been learning about racism since elementary school, I keep learning new things because of how accurate I believe Malcolm to be.
This book also goes hand and hand with Black Boy. Both authors lose their fathers, one through death (Malcolm) the other through the negligence of duty (Richard). Both characters even move a ton throught the book, which adds to both stories, but can cause me to get who moved where messed up. These books even offer perspectives concerning different levels of wealth of blacks. Richard, who has been poor his whole life is always hungry, and Malcolm, who isn't rich but has always lived in an area where he gets enough to eat. This difference makes a huge difference in prospective. Malcolm goes to a mostly white school, which means he really isn't scared to whites, where as Richard has never really gone with whites to school, and is hesitant to associate with them. As these books have similar themes, but with different views by the characters, it offers enjoyment for me to read them.

Theme

The theme that I can find over and over again throughout the pages that I read is white supremecy. What I mean is that Malcolm notices that most blacks are trying to become more "white", and the whites are incouraging it.

Quote

"It was a surprising thing that i had never thought of it that way before, but i realized that wwhatever iiwasn't, I was smarter than nearly all of those white kids. But apparently i was still not intelligent enough, in their eyes, to become whatever I wanted to be" (44). I really like this quote because I knew about hate related to racism, about unfairness related to racism, but I had never really understood that white people actually thought black's were not capable of the same intellegence as themselves.

Appeals

1. "They would talk about anything and everything with me standing right there hearing them, the same way people would talk freely in front of a pet canary. They would even talk about me, or about "niggers," as though I wasn't there, as if i wouldn't understand what the word meant" (3). This is a logical appeal, it shows how unaware whites were of how smart black people were.

2. "Later, I remember, we came to the textbook section on Negro history. It was exactly one paragraph long" (35). This is another logical appeal which shows how in a white school (Malcolm attends one) the white people barely give respect to the people they had inslaved for hundreds of years.

3."Malcolm, one of life's first needs is for us to be realistic. Don't misunderstand me , now. We all here like you, you now that. but you've got to realistic about beinga nigger, A lawyer-that's no realistic goal for a nigger. You need to think about something you can be" (43). Ouch! Even the white adults who like Malcolm and respect him, just don't understand that black's are capable of the same professions and opportunities white people have.

Vocabulary

Rastus: A degrading word for African American men used by whites in the south during the civil war.

Condescension: Voluntary assumption of equality with a person regarded as inferior.

First post

Hi guys, this is my first post! I hope you take a look at the poll.