Scribbler's 2-for-1 Tuesday Special: A Tribute to Muhammad Ali

As evidenced from several posts, 2016 has been a rough time of losing heroes.  Unfortunately, we must now add the greatest boxer of all time and one of the most awesome human beings that ever lived and breathed, Muhammad Ali, to that list.  When I got the ESPN notification on my phone on Saturday at 12:29 a.m., my immediate reaction was, "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"  I'm still in disbelief over the loss of Prince less than two months ago, so this just felt like emotional overkill.  Granted, I grew up in the Mike Tyson era of heavyweight boxing when many in our naive generation swore up and down that nobody could touch Iron Mike...that is, until our parents and elders hipped us to Mr. "Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee".  Suddenly, Iron Mike didn't seem as cool as a three-time heavyweight champion of the world who was one of the most skillful, tough, charismatic and confident brothers to ever perform in any sport, the blueprint for the activist and man of faith simply moonlighting as an athlete and could even push rhymes like weight.  So while the typical move for someone who is as into sports as I am would be to post my favorite five fights of his, y'all should know that I'm not that predictable.  Hence, this special edition of the "Rave & Favorite Five" as well as an "11th Hour Post of the Week" will capture my five favorite Muhammad Ali moments that manifest how his level of strength, courage and wisdom included but was certainly not limited to the sport of boxing...

#5 HE FOUGHT UP TO HIS VERY LAST BREATH...LITERALLY.  As much as Muhammad Ali was a testament to the power of the human mind, body and spirit when he was as healthy as an ox and on top of the boxing world, that was even more evident during his final moments on Earth.  In a Tweet on Saturday afternoon, Hana Ali, one of his three daughters, talked about how his family was saddened by his passing but glad that he was going "back to God now".  "All of his organs failed, but his HEART wouldn't stop beating," she said.  "For 30 minutes...his heart just kept beating.  No one had ever seen anything like it.  A true testament to the strength of his Spirit and Will!"  Now we all know how much heart Ali fought with every time a contender was put in front of him and how that level of heart and courage resonated in every other phase of his life from his strong religious convictions to his relentless love of Black people to even his 32-year battle with Parkinson's disease.  However, to overcome some of the greatest physical and scientific odds in the final half hour of his life and amaze people one last time with his unmatched amount of tenacity is truly worthy of making this list--even more than many of his memorable bouts in the ring.  That's the beauty and marvel of God manifesting his strength through a great man and his family with an impenetrable, unwavering amount of faith.

#4 CHANGING HIS NAME TO MUHAMMAD ALI.  As with anyone who has a paternal namesake, I'm sure that the legend who was born Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr., probably dealt with a little bit of trepidation in not only separating himself from an essentially adopted name that had no roots to his African heritage, but also one that his father kept until his death.  It's not that the name Cassius Clay was the worst name ever as Cassius Sr. was originally named after a 19th-century farmer and abolitionist (also from Ali's home state of Kentucky) who freed all 40 slaves that he inherited from his father, edited an anti-slavery newspaper, commanded troops in the Mexican-American war, served as ambassador to Russia under President Abraham Lincoln, dealt with numerous death threats for defying the Southern status quo and survived frequent physical attempts on his life from political opponents.  Thus, Ali's birth name provided him with some historical context that would set up the first 22 years of his life and beyond.  During the first ten combined years of his amateur and professional career, he fought under his birth name and first rose to fame. 

However, under the mentoring of Malcolm X and the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, he began attending Nation of Islam (NOI) meetings in 1961 and converted to Islam, briefly changed his name to Cassius X as a nod to his mentor and later converted to a Sunni Muslim in 1975. In announcing his official name change to Muhammad Ali in 1964 shortly after defeating Sonny Liston, this was his stern position: "Cassius Clay is a slave name.  I didn't choose it and I don't want it.  I am Muhammad Ali, a free name--it means beloved of God, and I insist people use it when people speak to me."  I'm a firm believer in one's name having a sense of purpose, and a name that means "beloved of God" was absolutely paramount in the face of the prevalent and vitriolic racism and discrimination in the 1950s and 1960s when Black people were fighting for civil rights, social equality and overall liberty.  A name as strong as that says that even if a society ruled by White men didn't love him, he was empowered and enabled by the Most High to fight for himself and those who look like him all around the world.  Furthermore, he led the charge in taking back the rights to and establishing his own identity--which I'm sure was encouragement for many other Black men and women throughout America and around the world at that time as well as in years and decades to follow.

#3 THE RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE.  Although I could've easily picked two of his Joe Frazier bouts with the "Fight of the Century" or the "Thrilla in Manila", what is there not to love about the equally-historic "Rumble in the Jungle"?  First and foremost, it took scores of Black folk and the boxing world to the Kinshasa, Zaire--a country that didn't get as much attention as some of the other African nations.  In fact, before it was referred to as the "Rumble in the Jungle", it was supposed to be marketed as "From Slave Ship to Championship" in an attempt to connect more Black people with their African roots.  Of course, nothing moves but the money, so that idea was scrapped.  Second, it featured a star-studded, pre-fight concert that included B.B. King, Bill Withers, Celia Cruz, Miriam Makeba, Manu Dibango, The Crusaders, The Spinners and James Brown--whose unofficial Black power anthem, "Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud," could've easily been Ali's theme music.  Third, it was a post-prime Ali at 32 who still managed to be vintage against the ferociously heavy-handed Foreman at 25, who later admitted, "I was trying to kill him.  I wasn't looking for a knockout because if you're looking for a knockout, you use your skill.  I didn't do that.  I was trying desperately to destroy that man."  Welp, although he put the likes of Joe Frazier and Ken Norton on the canvas in 1973 and 1974, respectively, he could barely land any meaningful punches against Ali's skillful "rope-a-dope" technique that tired out the defending undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.  Despite admittedly being "out on his feet" twice during the bout because of the punches that did connect, Ali was able to knock out Foreman in the eighth round and regain his second heavyweight crown that he would hold for the next four years.  Of his ability to knock down the same man who knocked down two fighters that he couldn't knock down, he simply said, "Boxing is funny like that."

#2 HIS EXPLANATION OF HIS RELIGIOUS BELIEFS IN NEWCASTLE.  In a July 1977 interview with Reg Gutterage in Newcastle, England, Muhammad Ali put on a different kind of clinic as he talked about a little bit of everything, including his continued desire to fight even at the age of 35; the stark contrast between the excessive but arguably ineffective policing in America and the rest of the world; the rise in crime; receiving an unprecedented amount of fanfare in a European country as a Black man, despite being accustomed to it in African and Asian countries; and even shared a few rhymes detailing how he would predict his victories against his opponents.  However, the most riveting parts of his interview was when he spoke about his belief in God:

God is watching me.  God don't praise me because I beat Joe Frazier; God don't give nothing 'bout Joe Frazier.  God don't care nothing 'bout England or America as far as we are wealthy; it's all His.  He wants to know how do we treat each other, how do we help each other.  So, I'm gonna dedicate my life to using my name and popularity to helping charities, helping people, uniting people...so what am I gonna do when I'm through fighting?  I only have sixteen years to be productive?  Get myself ready to meet God and go to the best place.

When a woman later asked him about his decision to convert to Islam, he offered this:

All religions are good.  I wrote something once, it says, "Rivers, lakes and streams.  They all have different names, but they all contain water."  So does religions have different names and they contain God and the truth, only expressed in different ways, forms and times.  What Jesus taught was good.  What Moses taught was right.  What Buddha taught was right.  What Krishna taught was right.  What Isaiah, Lot, Noah...God has always sent prophets to different people in different times with messages for those people and people have decided to choose those prophets as their leader...all of God's prophets are right.  You have to believe in all of them...So I choose to follow the Islamic path because I never saw so much love.  I never saw so many people hugging each other, kissing each other, praying five times a day, the women in the long garments, the way that we eat.  You can go to any country, "Assalamu alaykum." "Walaikum assalam."  You got a home, you got a brother.  I chose the Islamic path because it connected me.  As a Christian in America, I couldn't go to the White churches.  As a Christian, that was for those people; it did them good, it didn't do me good.

In a world where people are often taking each other to task for their religious beliefs or lack thereof, this was one of Ali's most brilliant, unifying moments in his 74 years of life.  It's almost like his statements were the precursor to the invention of the "Co-Exist" bumper sticker, but at the same time, he made it clear that we have a choice in which religion we choose based upon what speaks the most to our spirits and our hearts.  Seeing the rise of so many brothers and sisters in the D.C. area connecting more with Islam than Christianity--the latter faith which I have connected--Ali provided an extended sound bite that echoes many of their sentiments.

#1 HIS ABSTENTION FROM FIGHTING IN THE VIETNAM WAR.  Although I am supportive of anyone who is willing to lay down their life to defend our country, I have never been a proponent of war because.  First and foremost, it's hard to get behind the belief that bloodshed is the answer to any problem.  Second, I never believed in risking my life for a country that not only wouldn't do the same for me and people who look like me, but also for a country that has unjustifiably taken the lives of so many Black people going back to the slave trade.  I lie to y'all not...I was seriously willing to go to jail if I was ever called to serve in the Armed Forces.  Thus, you can imagine how awesome it was for me to share that commonality with the great Muhammad Ali.  When Ali vehemently refused to be drafted into the Armed Forces in Houston on April 28, 1967, it set off one of the most memorable and significant media, social and political firestorms of the past 50 years.  In a confrontation with White students who opposed his position, he stood his ground and echoed many of my aforementioned sentiments: 

You talkin' about me about some draft and all you White boys are breaking your neck to go to Switzerland and Canada and London...I'm not gonna help somebody get something our Negroes don't have.  If I'm gon' die, I'll die now, right here, fighting you...you're my enemy!  My enemy is the White people, not the Viet Congs, the Italians, the Japanese.  You're my opposer when I want freedom!  You're my opposer when I want justice!  You're my opposer when I want equality!  You won't even stand up for me in America for my religious beliefs and you want me to go somewhere and fight, but you won't even stand up for me here at home!

The amount of temerity and bravery that it took to take such an unpopular position in the face of White entitlement, privilege and racism during a state of civil and political unrest in the 1960s speak volumes about Ali's infallible character, but it doesn't stop there...

Ali was not only willing to give up his heavyweight title that he first earned in the face of adversity against Sonny Liston, but he was also willing to give up his physical freedom in order to remain spiritually free to stick to his beliefs by simply saying in an interview, "Take me to jail!"  Although the latter part never actually happened as he remained free during the appeal process, the New York State Athletic Commission stripped him of his boxing license for a total of 43 months upon his arrest for draft evasion and he was convicted and technically sentenced to the maximum of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.  Unwilling to be defeated per the usual, he appealed his case all the way to the Supreme Court where it was determined that he could abstain from fighting in the Vietnam War because of his Islamic faith, citing a legal precedent in which Jehovah's Witnesses were declared "conscientious objectors".  Although the 8-0 decision (an uncommon unanimity in Supreme Court cases) was rendered specifically to him, it was still another notch under his belt because he once again remained steadfast in his beliefs as a Black man in America and a man of God that it was his destiny to overcome a volatile and unjust situation.

###

While many writers and journalists will say that Muhammad Ali belonged to everybody, I will not gloss over the fact that he was a man who never apologized for his Blackness or shied away from the responsibility of representing our race and culture.  When he talked about being "pretty", it was deeper than just how well put together he was physically; it was an affirmation of confidence and assurance in a society that constantly demeaned, degraded and diminished Black beauty and excellence.  When he talked about being "the greatest", that was more than just braggadocio; it was a declaration as a Black man in America who was constantly told what he could or couldn't do based upon the fabricated context that the hateful portion of White America attached to his skin color.  Whether it was inside or outside the squared circle, his fight was always bigger than himself or boxing.  "I am America," Ali said.  "I am the part you won't recognize, but get used to me--Black, confident, cocky.  My name, not yours.  My religion, not yours.  My goals, my own.  Get used to me."  Well said, Champ...well said.  Rest in Paradise, Muhammad Ali...

Whether you were a fan of Muhammad Ali as a boxer, an activist, a man of faith or combination of all of the above and then some, PLEASE help me celebrate the life and legacy of "The Greatest" and "The People's Champion" by listing one or a few of your favorite Ali moments!