RIP Muhammad Ali

There's also a huge 'Thrilla in Manila' promotional poster of him and Joe Frazier in our gym back in Pennsylvania.  Won't look at that picture the same way again.

 

Ali was an enormous influence in the AA community. He took crap from no one and his verbal agility and his pride in who/what he was was obvious to all, at a time when being black meant taking a seat at the back of the bus. Because of his talent and ability as a boxer (not a sport I'm a fan of, btw), he demanded respect and got it from most, with the exception of some die-hard racists. He was willing to put up with the suspension of his boxing career - at a time when it was most lucrative - to take a stand against the Vietnam War, and say specifically it was about racism:

 

"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 evils 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 22 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 up for my beliefs. So I’ll go to jail. We’ve been in jail for four hundred years."

 

That took a lot of courage, and people didn't forget it.  His personality was big, but as you noted, that doesn't mean much. He had principles and acted on them. That's what meant a lot and why so many, white and black, admire him.

 

His greatest battle was against the terrible Parkinson's disease and he showed dignity and grace in battling it to the end. 

 

RIP Champ.