The Ballot or the Bullet

“Dixiecrat” was a nickname for Southern Democrats. The moniker resulted from the Southern Democrats’ split from the party in 1948 over opposition to civil rights. Their official name was the States’ Rights Party, based on their argument that the 10th Amendment to the Constitution endowed the Southern states with inherent rights that the federal government should not trample upon, including the right to maintain a system of lawful segregation. The party’s leader was Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina.

Malcolm X refers to the mainstream civil rights movement’s actions as outdated and likens their approach to racist oppression as akin to Uncle Tom, the title character from Harriet Beecher Stowe’s famous 19th-century novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Uncle Tom was an old man who spent his lifetime in slavery but refused to become angry or resentful about his status. He was, instead, very often a friend to white people, particularly his young charge, Little Eva, and exhibited a Christ-like ability to maintain love for his oppressors despite their violent abuse. Uncle Tom became a symbol among black nationalists for black people who were too naïve or brainwashed to fight back against those who insisted on withholding their rights and liberties.