Ali's gone

Hadn't seen this news yet, thanks, only a quote in my Twitter timeline - like this one, only longer:

"Shoot them for what?" Ali asked in an interview after he refused induction. "They never called me nigger. They never lynched me. They never put dogs on me. They didn't rob me of my nationality, rape and kill my mother and father. What do I want to shoot them for, for what? Why do I want to go shoot them, poor little people and babies and children and women? How can I shoot them? Just take me to jail."

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"I ain't got no quarrel with those Viet Cong."--Muhammad Ali

Another hero of my youth has passed away. Lots of young men with far less to lose managed to avoid the draft with no public condemnation but not Ali. He said what he believed and he refused to go. As the years wore on he proved to be as wise and peaceable as his words--a great American. I hated to see the ravages that his career wreaked on his body but he bore them with grace. I hope he is laying out his winter clothes and going home--s6

Haggis said:

link

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I always thought that it was a cruel twist that a man who was the epitome of grace and power should suffer the ravages of Parkinson's and spend decades in a body that failed him.

He was an icon and reached a stature that few in history have managed to obtain. Anyone who thinks he was just a boxer should read the link from Haggis' post

Just read it on Facebook, often my first source for news of this kind.
I once spent an unforgettable day with Ali, in Lima, back in 1971.
Maybe I'll write a blog post on that. He truly was great.

I feel compelled to write something, yet I can't think of anything better than Ali would have said himself. What an extraordinary life, even with parts of what made him extraordinary taken away for so long.

Amazing, humble, wonderful man. Rest in peace, brother.

RIP

Muhammad Ali was a childhood hero to me. I remember the party gathered around the radio listening to him whip Liston, and the shock that rippled through my (southern baptist) family and friends when he announced his name change. I was 12, and that reaction marked the beginning of the end of religion as an influence in my life.

His anti-war stance three years later cemented my admiration and taught me another valuable lesson, this time about state worship. That made him a double demon to those around me, but a double hero in my mind. When the supremes vindicated his position in 1971, it cemented both stances in my mind and helped send me down the path I follow today.

Thank you, Ali, for some strong and important life lessons.

The Greatest.....RIP

He was his own man, always.

Godspeed, Muhammad.

This one's kind of personal for me. My father had the same condition, diagnosed at 33. Before Michael J Fox's charity was a reality, Mr. Ali brought the disease and the fight against it to a public arena in a way that hadn't really been seen before. Parkinson's was an "accepted" disease of old age to a lot of people, but then along comes a man who was in excellent physical condition and far too young for the condition. So young, that like my dad, doctors at first refused to call it was it was, labeling it "Parkinson's syndrome" and attributing it to boxing brain damage.

Ali could have become a hermit. He could have shrunk from publicity and public appearance, as so many people are uncomfortable with disease, but he didn't. He continued to show up. He continued to speak. He continued to live. He defied the expectation of a disease that rewires the brain and the body, and I would imagine that he did it while being handed some similar forecasts for survival to the ones my dad got: every 6 months, for 22 years, he was told he had 6 months to live.

The man was a fighter and a showman, and in the end, the latter made him a fighter of a different kind because he brought awareness to something that most people never had to see or deal with.

Godspeed, sir. RIP.

Mohammad, the black Superman
Floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee

-from that record my sister had in the early 70's.

RIP, to a giant.

He was a heroic example in my childhood, even more in my adulthood. Remarkable athlete, man of principle, courageous activist. RIP

Yet again this year, the world has lost one of the true greats. RIP, Ali. The world will never be the same again.

During the Vietnam War there were several ways to deal with the draft and military service.
1. Go into service.
2. Get endless deferments like Dick Cheney and others.
3. Get a choice assignment in the national guard. Remember George W. Bush?
4. Go to Canada.
5. Or do as Ali and refuse to go, and in the process lose your boxing crown, deal with hatred from some elements, and face jail time. I have always admired and respected him for the way he handled the situation.

He was always one of my favorites. And a true man of principle.

2. Get endless deferments like Dick Cheney and others.

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Mostly available to rich white guys.

3. Get a choice assignment in the national guard. Remember George W. Bush?

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Mostly available to rich white guys with powerful daddies.

4. Go to Canada.

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Not as easy as it sounds.

You could also get a medical deferment, like Pat Buchanan, Rush Limbaugh, and a bunch more of the chickenhawks.

Never was a fan, though he did well enough for Parkinson's sufferers.

Drafting Cheney might have made things even worse. He isn't really known for his markmanship.

Or perhaps he is.

Mod Note: I merged the two Ali threads. I might yet wish I hadn't. If someone really wants to discuss the ins and outs of the draft in the US, let me know. I'll split that portion off again.

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Each of us is more than one thing. Ali was and is an outstanding example of that. RIP, Good Sir.

"He is leaving
He is leaving
But the fighter still remains." -- Simon and Garfunkel

The fighter remains in us. He taught a whole generation how to fight with grace and conviction--even a 100lb white girl from Kansas--s6

Williebee said:

Mod Note: I merged the two Ali threads. I might yet wish I hadn't. If someone really wants to discuss the ins and outs of the draft in the US, let me know. I'll split that portion off again.

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You should split it again, imo. The partisan-driven crap brings the while thread down.

robeiae said:

You should split it again, imo. The partisan-driven crap brings the while thread down.

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It certainly amplifies the threat of total derailment. If we wanted to at least lean closer to the topic of Ali himself, it's not as if we can't find or reference political figures who actively opposed Ali during his draft resistance and trials (or who actively opposed his outspokenness regarding Civil Rights, among other things).