Why did Malcolm X think it was important to expand the struggle from civil rights activism to human rights activism?

Although they only met once, Malcolm X was often asked his opinion of Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement. Initially scornful of King and his strategies, Malcolm later began to recognize the worth of - and even began tentative participation in - the movement.

Same Problem, Different Directions

Near the end of his life, Malcolm X publicly recognized that "Dr. King wants the same thing I want - freedom!" But for most of his ministry he did not identify with King and the civil rights movement. Although both Black Muslims and King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference had the same general goals of defeating white racism and empowering African Americans, Malcolm and King had different tended to speak at different venues (street corners vs. churches) and had different aims. Malcolm, who would publicly deny that he was even an American, worked for a Nation of Islam that sought to create a separate society for its members. Malcolm rejected integration with white America as a worthwhile aim (deriding it as "coffee with a cracker") and particularly opposed non-violence as a means of attaining it. "That's what you mean by non-violent," he said, "be defenseless." In Malcolm's mind, the African American could never surrender his right of self-defense against white violence.