Engaging Parrhesia in a Democracy: Malcolm X as a Truth-teller

Abstract

To engage in parrhesia is to function as a truth-teller. While Foucault (2001 Foucault , M. ( 2001 ). Fearless speech . ( J. Pearson , Ed.). Los Angeles : Semiotext . [Google Scholar]) outlined different types of parrhesia identified by the Greeks, the five elements of parrhesia remain constant yet context-specific: frankness, danger, criticism, duty, and truth. Foucault (2001 Foucault , M. ( 2001 ). Fearless speech . ( J. Pearson , Ed.). Los Angeles : Semiotext . [Google Scholar]) argued that “real parrhesia, in its positive, critical sense does not exist where democracy exists” (p. 83). I claim that parrhesia can exist in democratic institutions and, in fact, is a process that members of the public should demand from public actors. To illustrate this claim, I analyze three Malcolm X speeches, “Black Man's History,” “The Ballot or the Bullet,” and “After the Bombing” and argue that while he did not start out as a parrhesiastes, he ended his life as one who spoke the truth in a democratic society.

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