Shaking a nation to its roots

Fifty years ago this week, on April 12, 1964, Malcolm X delivered, in Detroit, one of the most important speeches in the history of the Civil Rights Movement, “The Ballot or the Bullet.” His speech shook the civil rights movement, as well as the nation, to its roots. And, 50 years later, Malcolm’s words sound astoundingly prophetic. In an April 10 op-ed he co-authored for The Detroit News, Furman Communication Studies professor Sean O’Rourke wrote about the famous speech that cut through the rhetoric of peace and love.