Reading Response
Malcolm X, Audre Lorde and Eldridge Cleaver all were examples of activism against the mainstream culture of WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) ideology. Each in their own way represented a voice of opposition to the aggression and oppression that the mainstream culture demonstrated in its various facets—whether it was in the crackdown of the black population through the unjust use of law enforcement, as Cleaver saw, or in the case of racist groups violently threatening and attacking the black population, as Malcolm X witnessed and experienced, or in the cultural misdirection that Lorde felt. This paper will show how The Autobiography of Malcolm X, “Power” and “Poetry is Not a Luxury” by Lorde, and Soul on Ice by Cleaver represent ways in which African Americans protested against the mainstream culture.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X shows how African Americans protested against the mainstream culture by relating the stories of Malcolm X’s own life—from the time when he was still in his mother’s womb and the Ku Klux Klan showed up at their house to harass and destroy their property to the time that Malcolm found Allah and began to develop a new Black Nationalism in opposition to the WASP Nationalism that was set in opposition to the African American community. This opposition was not limited to the shores of America, either. As Malcolm X says directly, “Let us face reality. We...
Works Cited
All Excerpts from The Autobiography of Malcolm X (Malcolm X)
“Power;” “Poetry Is Not a Luxury” (Audre Lorde)
Excerpt from Soul on Ice (Eldridge Cleaver)
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