"Just Take Me To Jail

[kpete]

my favorite Ali quote:

[Odin2005]

1. Could you imagine the shit-storm if an athlete said that, today?

[Stinky The Clown]

3. There was a shit storm when he said that then.

[LiberalElite]

4. There was quite the shit storm and

as a teenager then, I thought "wow you can say that?" I learned a lot about integrity from Ali.

[notemason]

9. Amen

to the integrity.

[sarge43]

6. After he said that, what hit Ali wasn't a shit storm

it was a freakin' shit hurricane. He stood up and faced it.

[rurallib]

25. actually I don't think it would be as bad as what really happened.

It would be bad true - but the real thing was bad too.

[world wide wally]

2. He inspired all of us in so many different ways

Sports, politics. racial tolerance, reaching out to others, generosity, and yes... even trash talking for fun.

[FailureToCommunicate]

5. And so went to jail, or Canada, or CO service...

Thanks, Ali,for being such a big voice resisting the insanity of Vietnam.

You will be missed.

[scottie55]

7. My Dad Hated Muhammad Ali For Not "Going" To Vietnam

Ali was smart enough to know who his real enemy was.

White Racists who wanted to keep him and his friends as slaves for eternity.

“my enemy is the white people, not the Vietcong”.

Some folks simply refuse......

[llmart]

26. My father admired him greatly for his stance.

My father had many things about him that weren't admirable, but he was anti-war and when Ali took this stance, my father had nothing but excessive praise for the man.

[Albertoo]

27. While understandable in context, the sentence “my enemy is the white people” was ugly

What difference with Trump saying “my enemy is the Mexican people”
or “my enemy is the xxx people” with the xxx of your choice?

Ali was brave, strong willed, but some of his attitudes sucked.

[scottie55]

28. The Mexicans Aren't Lynching The Trumps Of This World

There is a lot of difference between someone telling the truth, regardless the cost, and one trying to become the next Hitler.

[Albertoo]

30. Where there legal lynchings in the US at the time? Straw men aren't people.

[qdouble]

32. In context of a black man in the civil rights era, what Ali said was justified...

a rich billionaire saying that today? Of course not. There's a huge difference between the oppressed telling the oppressor to go fuck themselves vs the oppressor saying it.

[The Blue Flower]

8. I was a teen when he said this, and it made perfect sense to me

He changed my world view.

[Ligyron]

10. He came in for quite a bit of hate from my parents and their circle.

I remember thinking maybe he was "chicken".

Man was I ever wrong and my parents and their friends? Way, way wrong.

Man is an Icon and rightly so - the years have proven the correctness of his stance. A brown eyed, handsome man for sure and a beautiful human being.

[spud_demon]

11. Truth

The world doesn't need a "big powerful America".

[scottie55]

29. Big Powerful America

Who's corporations have their jack boots on the throats of every citizen on this planet.

Some people are so tired of these jack boots, they actually fly planed into our buildings.

But we don't ever want to talk about that.

Ali was waaaaaaay ahead of his time.

[uppityperson]

12. k&r

[La Lioness Priyanka]

13. I have admired that statement since I was a child

[mnhtnbb]

14. My husband was inspired by Muhammed Ali

He was Berry planned during Vietnam--given the option to finish Med School and serve later--
and he seriously thought about going to Canada. Instead, he and a few other brave souls
in Med School at UCLA set up a table to protest the Vietnam war in the heart of the UCLA
Med Center.

My husband ended up enlisting in the Air Force--did his two years--and has spent most of
the rest of his career treating, at least part-time, vets at the VA Hospitals where he worked
in Los Angeles after he finished his residency in Psychiatry at UCLA, and then Lincoln, NE when we moved there in 1994.
My husband's maternal family is from Kentucky and their name was Clay. He thinks it's possible
that he and Muhammed Ali might have been distant cousins.

[napkinz]

15. video

[blackspade]

19. Damn, that last part is still true today.

[hopemountain]

22. thank you, napkinz -

i am going to share this powerful ali video with some young'uns.

[KelleyKramer]

31. Wow!! Thanks for posting that

Don't think I have ever seen that last part, he just put it right out there, very powerful stuff! And a very brave man.


.

[ProudProgressiveNow]

33. +1 nt

[zentrum]

16. Belongs to the ages and

….the whole world.

[napkinz]

17. K&R

[blackspade]

18. He's a "Bad Man!"

RIP to the Greatest!

[dhill926]

20. K & R...

for The Greatest....

[Enthusiast]

21. Kicked and recommended! nt

[Demsrule86]

23. How is it that Bernie was able to evade the draft (No I don't mean to Criticise Bernie)

but dark skinned people were taken to jail? My Dad said the draft was BS...that poor kids went mostly...Trump didn't go. My Dad was in Korea and Vietnam. He never faulted Muhammad Ali.

[PoliticAverse]

34. This snopes.com article discusses Sanders and the draft...

http://www.snopes.com/bernie-sanders-dodged-draft/

Note that those going to college were eligible for a deferment.

[jwirr]

24. The words of a truly great man and hero.

[13Dogs]

35. Lesson to Be Learned, Courtesy of The Greatest

"While many scorned Ali’s decision at the time" - 49 years later it's crystal clear that Ali was on the right side of history with respect to the Vietnam War. The fact that he stuck by his principles, despite the vicious condemnation from the authoritarians and war mongers, speaks volumes of the strength and goodness of this man. He asked the brilliant question, why would I want to go and kill poor people living in the mud for big. powerful America? The fact that question is still sadly relevant almost 50 years later, doesn't say a lot for the human race's progress towards a peaceful planet...but make no mistake, Ali sure did his part, and then some, towards that goal. He was a giant...