The Legacies of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X for Contemporary Civil Rights Movements

Running head: CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
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Author Note

1CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
The contemporary civil rights movements such as the Black Lives Matter and Idle No
More are likely to learn something from the legacies that have been left by Martin Luther King
Jr. and Malcolm X through their endeavours to ensure that the oppressed get the rights they are
entitled to without discrimination and also to safeguard their rights and liberties from being
encroached upon. The struggles of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X have been pioneering
in the field of championing the rights of the people of colour in America whose rights had
categorically been violated by the white supremacists hence they can provide a model for the
contemporary movements of ‘Black Lives Matter’ in the United States of America and ‘Idle No
More’ in Canada, whose target population are the people of colour, the negroes and the
aborigines respectively, both the communities being minorities in the nations mentioned and also
oppressed because of the colour of their skin ever since the discovery of the New World by the
Europeans.
The supposed racial inferiority of the people of colour vis-à-vis the racial superiority of
the white Europeans who had taken unto themselves the responsibility of civilizing the people of
colour had happened down the history by means of oppression and by means of depriving them
of their civil rights as equal citizens of the nation. The pioneering efforts of Martin Luther King
Jr. and Malcolm X had been aimed at gaining equality of status and the basic aim of the
contemporary movements of ‘Black Lives Matter’ in the United States of America and ‘Idle No
More’ in Canada is also the same. Hence, the contemporary movements can definitely gain some
insight from the legacies of the struggles of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X and the
manner in which it can be made possible shall be the aim or the central question of this particular
analytical essay.

2CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
The precursor to the contemporary black civil rights movement in USA under the banner
of the slogan #blacklivesmatter has been Malcolm X who had voiced the predicament of the
people of colour due to the escalation of the police violence specifically targeted against them. In
the year 2012 the black civil rights movement had witnessed a resurgence to address the rising
insecurities plaguing the lives of the people of colour and rendering them vulnerable not just at
the hands of the police but at the hands of the law and order situation as well. The immediate
cause had been the death of Trayvon Martin, a 17 year old boy of colour who was mistaken as a
robber and shot dead by George Zimmerman, who was acquitted of the charges of culpable
homicide when evidences had clearly shown that there was no sign of confrontation between
Martin and Zinmerman and it was easily deducible as a case of hate crime. Like Zimmerman
most criminals perpetrating violence against the people of colour escapes punishment on the
ground that they have been wrought with mental problems driving them to the crime (Thomas
and Sha’Kema). In Canada similarly, the ‘Idle No More’ movement was launched by northern
Ontario Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence on International Human Rights Day, December 11,
2012 to voice the interests of the indigenous communities dealing with their land rights, cultural
liberty and the safeguarding of their sovereignty which have been categorically evaded by the
passing of C 45 Omnibus Bill. The aim had been to draw the attention of Prime Minister Stephen
Harper and the Governor General David Johnston and begin the discussion on addressing the
entitlements of the indigenous community as per the treaties with the First Nation. These are the
contemporary civil rights movements which shall be analyzed against the legacies of Martin
Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X to provide worthy of emulation models of addressing the
methods of agitation (Friedel).