The year 1964 was the peak of the American civil rights movement. There were two well-known activists within the civil rights movement. One supported civil disobedience and the other supported revolution. Martin Luther King, a Christian minister, advocated for a peaceful end to African Americans' inequalities, while Malcolm not the freedom they deserve. In his speech “The Ballot or the Bullet,” Malcolm X declared that 1964 was the year of the ballot or the bullet, “of liberty or death.” His main goal in using aggressive language was to unite African Americans in their battle for civil rights against a government led primarily by a white majority. He wanted to convince them that they could have more power if they all united. They would have the power to appoint a president to the White House, the power to control their communities, and the power to gain the freedom they have been denied. Malcolm Either the “white man” can give it to them, or they can take their freedom through a bloody revolution. In order to prove to his audience what power they could have by uniting and that they have been transformed into “idiots” by a “white nationalist” Government, Malcolm X builds his speech on the three rhetorical proofs. He uses logos in the form of reasoning and deductive events to show that black people were victims of the white-led government and to offer them a solution; he uses ethos to establish his character and status as a freedom fighter as well as to bring black Americans together; and he uses pathos through repetition in the middle of a paper......s “The bullet or the ballot” is a call to action. His audience has suffered for centuries and he believes it is time to end this suffering. He looks around and sees examples of civil disobedience, and does not believe that this will be enough to win the freedom of his people. In order to preach his solution, and possibly start a revolution for their rights, he uses the three rhetorical proofs. He uses logos to prove that black Americans have been exploited by the "white man" and proposes a solution, he uses ethos to assert his character and credibility so that his audience is more likely to listen to his solution, and he uses Overwhelming pathos that compels the audience to act on his solution. As his most famous speech makes clear, Malcolm X was not only an extremely powerful and influential leader, but also a brilliant freedom fighter..