The Ballot or the Bullet

The Ballot or the Bullet Imagery

"As long as you got a sit-down philosophy, you'll have a sit-down thought pattern. And as long as you think that old sit-down thought, you'll be in some kind of sit-down action. They'll have you sitting in everywhere." (Anaphora, Kinesthetic Imagery)

In this example of anaphora and kinesthetic imagery, Malcolm X repeats the term "sit-down" to compare the non-violent philosophy of sit-ins to a passive and disempowered physical stance of rest.

"To remove colonialism from the backs and the minds of twenty-two million Afro-Americans here in this country" (Visual Imagery)

Malcolm X describes colonialism as something carried on "the backs and the minds of twenty-two million Afro-Americans." In this example of visual imagery, colonialism is described as a great weight exerted upon the physical bodies and mental states of an oppressed people.