Muhammad Ali

Biography

Ali was born on January 17, 1942, in Louisville, Kentucky. His birth name was Cassius Marcellus ClayJr. At the age of 12, Clay discovered his talent for boxing.

In 1960, Clay won a spot on the U.S. Olympic boxing team.

He won the light heavyweight Olympic gold medal in 1960

In 1964 he defeated Sonny Linston and became the heavyweight champion of the world,

In 1971: famous match versus Joe Frazier.

He retired from boxing in 1981 at the age of 39.

He died in June, 3 2016 because of the Parkinson's disease complicaton.

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Fight against racial discrimination

He experienced racial prejudice and discrimination since he was young. In his ironic way he often loved remembering the episode in a diner in Kentucky where he was denied service. When the owner told him, “We don’t serve n*****s,” Clay replied, “That’s OK, I don’t eat ‘em.”

Ali’s activism was not meant in its literal sense. He preferred to communicate using media.

The power of his particular activism stayed in the simplicity of his messages.

One of his most famous about racial discrimination is: “Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn’t matter which color does the hating. It’s just plain wrong.”

Muhammad Ali became a symbol.

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About Religion

Ali knew Malcolm X in 1964.

Cassius Clay became Muhammad Ali. He famously said: “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 and of me.”

He announced to the world that he had joined the Nation of Islam movement founded in 1930.

Even in this case he expressed himself with simple concepts for example saying : "Islam is not hate: God is not with killers".

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Pacifism and the Vietnam War

He was also a firm pacifist.

After receiving the call from the army in 1967, he refused to serve on the ground during the Vietnam war, and declared himself a conscientious objector.

The response of the United States was very harsh.

The U.S. Department of Justice pursued a legal case against Ali and sentenced him to five years in prison.

He explained why he refused to fight in Vietnam and said: “I ain’t got no quarrel with those Vietcong” and “no Vietcong ever called me nigger.”

“Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs?”

The U.S. Supreme Court eventually overturned the conviction in June 1971.

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Other episodes

Another remarkable episode of his biography was his friendship with Martin Luther King. They joined together at a rally in Louisville. “In your struggle for freedom, justice and equality, I am with you,” Ali told Dr. King.

Also, in 1990, Ali helped negotiate the release of 15 American hostages from Iraq. In 1998 he became a United Nations Messenger of Peace for his work overseas, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005.

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