Easy Sunday: Muhammad Ali
For today, take a moment to look back.
Tomorrow I will show photos from the "No Kings" protest in Medford, Oregon. People two-and-three-deep lined both sides of the broad McAndrews Road sidewalks for over a half mile. It was a pleasant summer morning, a great feel-good event.
People wanted to show patriotic resistance to an unjust government.
Today, for a Fathers Day "Easy Sunday" post, let's refresh our memories, and take a bit of inspiration from another time and another example of patriotic resistance, that of Muhammad Ali.
The year was 1967. He was the heavyweight boxing champion of the world. He refused to be drafted into the army, claiming conscientious objector status and opposition to America's war in Vietnam. He was convicted of draft evasion. It was four years before the conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court. In the meantime, he was stripped of his boxing title. He lost the best four years of his boxing career.
He said his fight wasn't with the Vietcong. It was with oppression here at home:
"I'm not going to run away. I'm not going to burn any flags. I'm not going to Canada. I'm staying right here.
“You want to send me to jail? Fine. I’ve been in jail for 400 years. I could be there for four or five more, but I’m not going to travel 10,000 miles to kill other poor people. If I want to die, I’ll die right here, fighting you if I need to. You’re my enemy, not the Chinese, not the Vietcong, not the Japanese. You’re my opponent when I want freedom. You’re my opponent when I want justice. You’re my opponent when I want equality.
“You want me to fight for you? But you won’t even defend my rights or my religious beliefs right here in America. You won’t even stand up for me at home."
Here is actor Will Smith in the role of Muhammad Ali in the movie "Ali."
Click: 39 seconds
We are at a perilous time for the country. President Trump is smashing through norm, laws, and the Constitution. He has supporters who applaud him doing this. The Congress isn't stopping him. The courts might. But the real bulwark against a lawless president is the people who make clear that they won't tolerate it.
We may be the majority of Americans.
I’m no fan of boxing, but I couldn’t resist watching Muhammed Ali. He truly was the greatest – one of those rare individuals willing to do the right thing, even at great cost to himself. In terms of character, Trump and his cult can't hold a candle to him, but I'm sure anti-woke types don’t appreciate his spotlighting of American racism since they’re trying so hard to whitewash it, even as they snatch people of color off the streets.
Thank you for this. It's seems as though many people who support Trump's agenda, even if they were around during the Vietnam war and the civil rights movement, have forgotten the protests and the "good trouble" that changed the course of history. Muhammed Ali was a hero in so many ways. I remember an interview he did on 60 Minutes late in his life, still "tellin' it like it is" with his sense of humor intact. A truly great man.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1yjDmTka58