The latitude allotted to Ali’s racism is quite remarkable.
We are set to be ambushed with loads of BS regarding what a great person Ali was. I beg those of you who subscribe to such ignorance to look into how Ali treated Joe Frazier. Look into what he called George Foreman. Look into his views on interracial marriage and Jewish people.
Was Ali a great fighter? One of the best! Was Ali entertaining? He changed the way athletes marketed themselves. But a good person, he was not.
If you can’t forgive a black man at 20 in the South in the early '60s being seduced by the NOI you’ve got problems. Likewise if you can’t condemn Ali for his treatment of Frazier.
Why don’t you give us some links?
It’s funny for whom we choose to allow to get away with racism. I understand appreciating Ali in a separate-the-artist-from-the-art kinda way. I mean, the guy was a great boxer. But for some to refer to him as a “hero”, or as a “social warrior”, is not only ignorant, it’s distrusting.
The guy literally spoke at a KKK rally expressing his support for their beliefs in segregation.
A bad man died today. We recognize him because he was good at a sport. How shallow!
Please provide cites.
He left the NOI in his early 30s for mainstream Islam. Geez. Get over it.
An eye witness, were you?
That is your opinion he was a good person to me plus a greater and stood up for what he believes in ! RIP The Greatest of All Time !
Ali never disavowed those beliefs that he very publicly held whilst with the NOI:
• Anti-interracial couples
• Pro-segregation
• White people were the devils
In fact, Ali continued expressing support for segregation after he split from the NOI. Ali only left the NOI, according to him, because Elijah Muhammad died.
He was a cold racist; and like most racists, he was of extremely low intellect (78 IQ).
So produce a quote post-1975 where he says any of that. Leaving the organization is enough of a repudiation for me and, I think, most people.
That’s not what I heard.
As I said before, Ali stated, in his own words, that he left the NOI due to Elijah Muhammad’s death. Not because his beliefs changes.
When you’ve made the kind of overly-racist startements that Ali has, disavowing is necessary. Ali was a guy who loved to talk. He would have gladly stated such a change in views publicly.
The guy literally rallied for segregation with the KKK.
It’s a well-known fact.
Okay, I’m splitting these posts off from the Game Room thread about Ali’s death. Feel free to debate about it here. The title was made by me, not the OP. The OP of this topic did not make a topic in here, the BBQ Pit, I just moved the hijack here and it became a topic.
If it’s a “well-known-fact”, then you can dig up a cite for it, jackass. Put up or shut up.
I’m not the OP, but this does appear to be a video of Ali describing his attendance at a KKK convention:
I have no idea what year the video is from.
Rallying with the KKK? I don’t believe that for a second. You honestly think the NOI would associate with the KKK? So, cite?
The proximate cause of Ali leaving the NOI may have been Elijah’s death but he was moving away from them since his pilgrimage to Mecca years earlier. He was moving towards Malcolm X if anything. And if Malcolm could moderate his views on race after leaving NOI why is it so hard to believe Ali could do the same?
This is such a weird obsession. The man lived for 40 years after all that nonsense. Get over it.
Wow. Ok. So that apparently came out in a 2008 documentary. Ali telling a “story” to a reporter. Any other confirmation that this happened? Aww fuck it. I don’t care either way. The guy did whatever he was he told by the NOI. I’ll blame them.
Based on the later quotes here, I’ll vote that he changed his opinions on race and segregation as he aged:
The man who died, no longer seemed to hate any one of any other race.
lol. How stupid. And I don’t mean Ali.