Muhammad Ali: a Voice of Black Pride
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E D O N 6 . 2 3 . 1 5 75¢ PER COPY www.SacObserver.com FOR THE WEEK OF JUNE 9 - 15, 2016 1942 - 2016 LEE PUBLICATION A VOL. 53 NO. 27 PAGE 2 JUNE 2016 Muhammad Ali: A Voice Of Black Pride or Muhammad Ali, the idea of being a hum- and frequently declared himself “pretty’’ and “the ed into the U.S. military to fight in Vietnam. He was ble athlete — someone pre-packaged and greatest.’’ convicted of draft evasion, banned from boxing and palatable for White America — was never an Many people had never heard a successful Black stripped of his heavyweight title. option. Instead, he demanded respect not man talk about himself so boldly in front of Whites. When asked about his stance on the North F only as a boxer but as a brash, unbought And it made a difference, Ali biographer Thomas Vietnamese, Ali famously said: “They never called me and unbossed Black man and endeared himself to Hauser said. nigger. They never lynched me. They didn’t put no “Every time that Muhammad Ali looked in the mir- dogs on me. They didn’t rob me of my nationality, By JESSE J. HOLLAND ror and said `I’m so pretty,’’ what he was really saying rape and kill my mother and father.’’ African-Americans as a symbol of Black pride. He — before it became fashionable — is `Black is beau- He was eventually cleared by the U.S. Supreme radiated courage and confidence, skill and showman- tiful,’’ Hauser said. “I can’t tell you how many people ... Court and won back his boxing title. With that, Ali ship. have come up to me and said, `Before Muhammad had defeated what many Blacks saw as a racist sys- “He became the incarnation of Black defiance, Ali, I thought it was better to be White than Black. I tem — regardless of whether Ali was right or wrong Black protest and Black excellence at the same time,’’ was ashamed of my color, and Ali made me proud. Ali in his particular stance. said Rev. Al Sharpton, a longtime friend of Ali’s. made me just as happy to be Black as somebody else It would have been easier and more lucrative for Ali, who died June 3 at 74, gave voice to many being White.’’’ Ali to keep quiet and go along with what many in Blacks frustrated with a White society that asked Ali’s Blackness infused everything he did and White society wanted from him, said his longtime them to fight communism in Vietnam but openly everything he was. friend and sports commentator Howard Cosell. They practiced segregation and discrimination at home. “If you wanted to make it in this country, you had wanted “a White man’s Black man,’’ Cosell once said. “At a time when Blacks who spoke up about injus- to be quiet, carry yourself in a certain way and not The United States has a long history of expecting tice were labeled uppity and often arrested under one say anything about what was going on, even though deference from Black athletes, said Clarence Lang, pretext or another, Muhammad willingly sacrificed the there was a knife sticking in your chest,’’ recalled the chairman of the African and African-American studies best years of his career to stand tall and fight for late Black journalist Gil Noble in an essay written by department at the University of Kansas. what he believed was right,’’ said retired NBA star Hauser. “The expectation is that you will keep your head Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who like Ali con- “Ali changed all of that. He just laid it down, that you don’t make White people uncomfort- verted to Islam. Abdul-Jabbar was out and talked about racism and slav- able by being excellent and being mindful and out- among several prominent African- ery and all of that stuff. He put it on spoken about the fact that you are excellent,’’ Lang American athletes in the late 1960s the table. And everybody who was said. who supported the boxer for his Black, whether they said it overtly Ali didn’t do deference. religious beliefs and as a consci- or covertly, said ‘Amen.’’’ “I am America,’’ he boasted. “I am the part you entious objector to the Vietnam The day after winning his won’t recognize. But get used to me — Black, confi- War. first world heavyweight champi- dent, cocky. My name, not yours. My religion, not Unapologetically arrogant onship, Ali announced he had yours. My goals, my own.’’ about his looks and his skills, joined the Nation of Islam and The boxer “made people accept him as a man, as Ali taunted opponents by had shed his “slave’’ name of an equal, and he was not afraid to represent himself reciting playful poetry Cassius Clay. He refused to be draft- in that way,’’ NFL great Jim Brown said. Lang said it would be wrong to assume that Ali was beloved dur- ing his time as a boxing champ. ‘Get used to He stepped outside of the main- stream of the civil rights movement with some of his rhetoric, outside me — Black, of the religious community with his conversion to the Nation of Islam and outside of the Black military community with his refusal to go to confident, Vietnam. “In some ways, Ali became a loveable figure after his heyday, cocky. My after his career,’’ Lang said. “I think people love to love him now.’’ But even back then, people who name, not might not necessarily agree with the rhetoric of militant Black activists such as H. Rap Brown, Stokely Carmichael or Malcolm X yours. My “could nevertheless respect Ali’s talent,’’ Lang said. Ali, Sharpton said, “went from religion, one of the most despised figures in the world to one of the most popu- lar men in the world because peo- not yours. ple respected that he really authen- tically believed and sacrificed for what he believed in.’’ “If there was a Mount Rushmore My goals, erected for influential Black figures in America,’’ Sharpton added, “he would not be on the mountain. He my own.’ would be the mountain.’’ JUNE 2016 PAGE 3 The Life, Legacy Of ‘The Greatest’ Muhammad Ali Displayed Excellence In The Ring, Courage Outside Of It icknamed “The Greatest,” Muhammad Ali Odessa Grady Clay (1917-1994). also became known for his lightning speed and fancy was one of the legends in the sport of Ali showed at an early age that he wasn’t fearful of footwork. After winning his first three bouts, Ali professional boxing. At 6 feet 3 inches, any bout—inside or outside of the ring. Growing up defeated Zbigniew Pietrzkowski from Poland to win he was an imposing figure in the ring, in the segregated Deep South, he experienced racial the light heavyweight gold medal. N known for his swift footwork, and power- prejudice and discrimination firsthand. Ali took out British heavyweight champion Henry ful jab. What distinguish him from his contemporaries At the age of 12, Cassius Clay discovered his talent Cooper in 1963, and then knocked out Sonny Liston are the values that he in 1964 to has been upholding all become the through his life. heavyweight A true believer of reli- ‘It’s hard to be champion of the gious freedom and racial world. justice, Ali had converted He was known to Islam and changed humble when for boasting his name from the for- about his skills mer identity, Cassius before a fight and Marcellus Clay. for his colorful Throughout his you’re as descriptions and career, Ali recorded 56 phrases. In one of wins of which 37 came his more famous- in knockout and 5 loss- ly quoted state- es. The most historic great as I am.’ ment, Ali told the matches were against media that he Liston, Joe Frazier and could “float like a George Foreman. He became the first three-time for boxing through a twist of fate. His bike was butterfly, sting like World Heavyweight Boxing Champion. stolen, and Ali told a police officer, Joe Martin, that a bee” in the box- Muhammad Ali was born Cassius Marcellus Clay he wanted to beat up the thief. ‘Well, you better learn ing ring. During one boxing demonstrations, Ali Jr. on Jan. 17, 1942, in Louisville, Kentucky to the elder how to fight before you start challenging people,” declared, “Keep the camera rolling because I’m kind son of Cassius Marcellus Clay Sr. (1912-1990) and Martin reportedly told him at the time. In addition to of fast.” being a police officer, Martin also trained While doing some spiritual searching, Ali decided young boxers at a local gym. to join the black Muslim group the Nation of Islam in MUHAMMAD ALI BIO In his first amateur bout in 1954, he 1964. At first he called himself "Cassius X" before set- won the fight by split decision. Ali went on tling on the name Muhammad Ali. The boxer eventu- Born: Jan. 17, 1942, in Louisville, Kentucky (born to win the 1956 Golden Gloves tourna- ally converted to orthodox Islam during the 1970s. Cassius Marcellus Clay) ment for novices in the light heavyweight Ali later started a different kind of fight with his class. outspoken views against the Vietnam War. Drafted Died: Friday, June 3, 2016, in Scottsdale, Arizona. In 1960, Ali won a spot on the U.S. into the military in April 1967, he refused to serve on Olympic boxing team, and traveled to the grounds that he was a practicing Muslim minister Nicknames: The Greatest; the Louisville Lip; the Rome, Italy, to compete.