Sport News
US President Bill Clinton and Sitting Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan
Would be among the world leaders attending the public events in Ali's hometown
Callum Paton
7 June 2016
World leaders, celebrities, family, friends and 30,000 members of the public are set to flock to Louisville Kentucky on Friday (10 June) for the funeral of former boxing world heavyweight champion and sporting icon Muhammad Ali.[1]
Reuters reported that US President Bill Clinton and sitting Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan would be among the world leaders attending the public events in Ali's hometown.[1]
Mohamed Ali -
Que feras tu
quand tu arrêteras la boxe ?
Que feras tu
quand tu arrêteras la boxe ?
Muhammad Ali
(1942-2016):
Anti-war legend and boxing great
Dies at 74
Jon Queally
June 4, 2016
Boxing great Muhammad Ali, known around the world as a humanitarian who spoke out forcefully against racial inequality, social injustice, and the Vietnam War during the 1960’s, has died at the age of 74.[2]
Rest In Power~ Muhammad Ali
Dies At The Age Of 74
Dies At The Age Of 74
The news of the athlete’s passing was confirmed by several news outlets late Friday night as well as a brief statement released on behalf of the family.[2]
After a 32-year battle with Parkinson’s disease, Muhammad Ali has passed away at the age of 74. The three-time World Heavyweight Champion boxer died this evening,” said family spokesperson Bob Gunnell in the statement.[2]
Muhammad Ali's daughter
talks about final days with dad
talks about final days with dad
According to reports, Ali had been receiving treatment related to respiratory problems at a hospital in Arizona.[2]
Though regarded as one of the great boxers and individual athletes of all time and widely cherished for his tenacious wit and swagger, Ali—who was born Cassius Clay on January 17, 1942 before converting to Islam and changing his name later in life—was equally heralded for his humanitarian work and taking bold political stances, even when they put his career in jeopardy.[2]
Muhammad Ali Dies At 74
Drafted for by the U.S. government into the Vietnam War in 1967, Ali refused to go.[2]
“My conscience won’t let me go shoot my brother, or some darker people, or some poor hungry people in the mud for big powerful America,” he famously said. [2]
“And shoot them for what? They never called me nigger, they never lynched me, they didn’t put no dogs on me, they didn’t rob me of my nationality, rape and kill my mother and father. … Shoot them for what? How can I shoot them poor people? Just take me to jail.”[2]
“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? [3]
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. [3]
This is the day when such evils must come to an end. [3]
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. [3]
Muhammad Ali On Dinah Shore Clips
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… [3]
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. [3]
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.” [3]
Though his refusal was celebrated by many, Sports Illustrates explains how it did not come without consequences:
Ali would not box for almost four years, as he appealed his arrest all the way to the Supreme Court, which overturned his conviction. [2]
Ali would go on to win the heavyweight title two more times, in 1974 and 1978. Along the way, Ali fought in some of the most iconic bouts in boxing history, including a trilogy of fights with rival Joe Frazier and “The Rumble in the Jungle” against George Foreman.[2]
Muhammad Ali Tells The Truth (1)
v
In 1984, Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, though he maintained a public presence for many years following. In recent years, Ali largely remained out of the spotlight, as his health declined in light of his disease.[2]
Ali’s legacy in and out of the ring made him one of the most well-known Americans ever. Sports Illustrated named him Sportsman of the Century in 1999, while the BBC named him Sports Personality of the Century. Last year, SI renamed its Legacy Award in Ali’s honor.[2]
Muhammad Ali
on Lola Falana Show
on Lola Falana Show
In 2002, journalist Gary Younge, in a piece titled simply ‘The Fighter,’ attempted to describe how a “fresh-faced amateur boxer from Kentucky”—who went on to become known by the unsubtle nickname “The Greatest”—came to symbolize the struggle of black and other oppressed people, not only in the United States, but around the world. Ali, Younge wrote, was a part of the social history of his time; he just refused to let mainstream society set the pace.[2]
Asked by one commentator what kind of champion he intended to be after he beat Liston in 1964, Ali replied: “I don’t have to be what you want me to be. I can be what I want to be and I’m free to think what I want to think.” It was a powerful statement for a young black man to make, not only in the US but just about anywhere at the time.[2]
It was a statement that could find meaning in Mississippi, where civil rights workers would risk and sometimes lose their lives fighting segregation; but equally in the newly independent and soon-to-be independent states in Africa and the Caribbean.[2]
It was the year Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment for opposing apartheid and Martin Luther King was awarded the Nobel peace prize for doing the same thing.[2]
This was one of the few times last century when the interests of African-Americans and the interests of the broader diaspora converged. With different means and different results in vastly different circumstances, they were all fighting for the vote and civil rights.[2]
Nikki Giovanni interviews
Muhammad Ali
In 1971
Ali Helped Expose
The FBI’s Secret Murder Plots
of
Activists & Antiwar Disinformation
Matt Agorist
June 7, 2016
As the mainstream media praises Muhammad Ali for his boxing career and Parkinson’s while only glossing over his antiwar bravery, there are untold stories of how this amazing man changed the world.[4]
One of these such contributions manifested through a terrible loss during Ali’s fight against the darling of the military industrial complex — Joe Frasier.[4]
Although Ali would take one of the worst beatings of his career, his fight provided cover for a burglary that would expose the FBI’s secret spying, murder plots, and COINTELPRO that would change the world forever.[4]
On March 8, 1971, as 300 million people gathered to watch Ali’s first major fight since he was convicted in 1967 for bravely refusing to fight in the unjust Vietnam war, a group of heroic antiwar activists plotted their burglary of the FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania.[4]
The noise from the fight would provide cover to the burglars as they broke into the office to expose the FBI’s heinous crimes.[4]
The group of eight activists would successfully expose the illegal spying operations of J. Edgar Hoover and how citizens across America were subject to the FBI’s black ops — including Martin Luther King, Jr.[4]
The group took every file in the office, and this cache would eventually lead to major congressional investigations and reform within the United States intelligence apparatus.[4]
According to the Intercept:
The distraction of the fight helped the burglars, who called themselves the Citizens Committee to Investigate the FBI, walk away with more than 1,000 documents, including one that revealed the FBI’s secret COINTELPRO operations. These operations involved a panoply of dirty tricks that ranged from planting disinformation about antiwar activists, to planning the murder of a member of the Black Panthers, and sending innocent people to prison on the basis of false testimony by agents and informers.[4]
Also contained within those files was the entire life history of Muhammad Ali. The FBI had data on Ali dating back to elementary school.[4]
Muhammad Ali & Joe Frazier
interview on Dick Cavett Show (FULL)
interview on Dick Cavett Show (FULL)
There was some poetic justice in Ali providing cover for the burglary. As more and more secret FBI files became public as a result of the break-in, it was revealed that the FBI had kept tabs on Ali, beginning with its investigation of his Selective Service case.[4]
Some of his phone conversations were tapped, and FBI informers gained access to, of all things, his elementary school records in Louisville (teachers said little Cassius Clay, his original name, loved art). Informers also had diligently monitored and typed, word for word, what Ali said on his appearances on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.[4]
13/24 -- Muhammad Ali
-- The Whole Story
-- Heavy Weight Boxing
-- The Whole Story
-- Heavy Weight Boxing
The eight activists who carried out the burglary of the century were never caught and they never broke their silence until over 40 years later in a book written by Betty L. Medsger, titled, The Burglary: The Discovery of J. Edgar Hoover’s Secret FBI and for a and for a documentary titled, 1971, by Johanna Hamilton.[4]
As the world mourns the loss of this great man, it is important we don’t let the media whitewash his antiwar efforts. [4]
The fights he endured in the ring were nothing compared to the ridicule and hate he faced from the pro-war establishment class. For taking a stand against killing innocent people, Ali suffered death threats and had his business shut down by the government.[4]
The day after the fight, Ali, being the gentleman he was, made the following statement discounting the loss of a boxing match and noting the importance of everything else.[4]
All kinds of things set us back, but life goes on. You don’t shoot yourself. Soon this will be old news. People got lives to live, bills to pay, mouths to feed. Maybe a plane will go down with ninety people on it. Or a great man will be assassinated. That will be more important than Ali losing. I never wanted to lose, never thought I would, but the thing that matters is how you lose. I’m not crying. My friends should not cry.[4]
Muhammad Ali visiting Cote D'Ivoire
Matt Agorist is the co-founder of TheFreeThoughtProject.com, where this article first appeared. He is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA. [4]
Muhammad Ali visiting
New Zealand in 1979
New Zealand in 1979
