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Muhammad Ali Speaks Out Against War
Muhammad
Ali, the “Greatest”, was heavyweight champion of the world, not just in
pugilism. Ali was a pugilist of
ideals as well. In 1964 he
renounced his given name of Cassius Marcellus Clay, what he called his slave
name. In reality Ali had been named
after a white abolitionist. He
became Muhammad Ali after garnering the World Heavyweight title.
Two
years later he was drafted into the military, but requested exemption which was
denied. It was at that time that
Ali voiced his anti-war beliefs, which caused a nation-wide furor. As a
result, his World Heavyweight title was revoked by the boxing commission,
and he was sentenced to five years in prison. Ali continually appealed, and only in
1971 did the Supreme Court overturn his prison sentence.
Here are the words that Ali voiced against war,
racism and injustice in America.
Why
should they ask me to put on a uniform and go ten thousand miles from home and
drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people
in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human
rights?
No, I
am not going ten thousand miles from home to help murder and burn another poor
nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker
people the world
over.
This
is the day when such evil must come to an end. I have been warned that to take such a
stand would put my prestige in jeopardy and could cause me to lose millions of
dollars which should accrue to me as the champion. But I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of my people is
right here.
I will
not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave
those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality…
If I
thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to twenty-two million of
my people, they wouldn’t have to draft me, I’d join tomorrow. But I either have to obey the laws of
the land, or the laws of Allah. I
have nothing to lose by standing for my beliefs. So I’ll go to jail. We’ve been in jail
for four hundred years...
Posted May 04, 2008
URL:
www.thecitizenfsr.org
SM
2000-2011
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