Speech 8

 Malcolm X on Jesus Christ

Malcolm x opens his speech with introduction narrative. He starts with an anecdote as a lead in to rouse the listeners and excite the audience. His anecdote is about the town's Mayor with Malcolm reiterrating that the man is a "Professional liar, a Professional liar". This sends the crowd into laughter and a clapping frenzy. The setting looks like a Church as Malcolm X speaks with an epideictic rhetoric. The crowd is engaged and responding to every pause and word as he has them captivated like a preacher on Sunday. Christianity is a common talk in Malcolm X speeches as Christianity is the foundation of black America. It is a subject he must speak on often as he is constantly defending Islam and conveying the parallels and contrasts of the two religions.

He understand his audience and knows they are a Christian people, therefore he appeals to their beliefs to get his message across. He states, "They charged Jesus with sedition. Didn't they do that? They said he was against Caesar. They said he was discriminating because he told his disciples, "Go not the way of the gentiles, but rather go to the lost sheep." He discriminated. Don't go near the Gentiles, go to the lost sheep. Go to the oppressed. Go to the exploited. Go to the downtrodden. Go to the people who don't know who they are, who are lost from the knowledge of themselves and who are strangers in a land that is not theirs. Go to these people. Go to the slaves. Go to the second-class citizens. Go to the ones who are suffering the brunt of Caesar's brutality. And if Jesus were here in America today, he wouldn't be going to the white man."

He uses Christian anecdotes to establish a connection with the people by explaining matters from their religious point of view instead of just his This relates him to the people, making them more open to his words.