MUHAMMAD ALI ON WHEN THEY SAY "NOT ALL WHITE PEOPLE ARE RACIST"

[ancianita]

Those of us who saw Muhammad Ali publicly stand up against the Vietnam War before anyone else, recognize why he will always be The Greatest.

We should also remember that beyond the ring where Muhammad Ali was The Greatest, back when whites believed they could turn away from their deep-seated racism, Muhammad Ali was the first to check their white privilege of stubborn denial and stupidity -- another reason he will always be The Greatest.

My favorite excerpt from one of his interviews (and the DU archives) ...

"...There are many white people who mean right and in their hearts wanna do right. If 10,000 snakes were coming down that aisle now, and I had a door that I could shut, and in that 10,000, 1,000 meant right, 1,000 rattlesnakes didn't want to bite me, I knew they were good... Should I let all these rattlesnakes come down, hoping that that thousand get together and form a shield? Or should I just close the door and stay safe?..."

http://roarsareneeded.tumblr.com/post/132601298473/deehenn-when-they-say-not-all-white-people

Muhammad Ali was so far ahead of his time about racial truth, and white people so dismissive, that Black Lives Matter still has to organize and tell it.

The Greatest knew about 'the work' and 'the struggle,' -- how we're not progressing, progressives, until it hurts.

[Smarmie Doofus]

1. OK. White people are rattlesnakes. Got it. n/t

[ancianita]

2. Yep. It's an apt analogy to all the death they've brought to black people.

[uhnope]

3. you tarnish his memory

by citing only his views influenced by his membership in the hate-cult, Nation of Islam.

I will always admire Ali and in doing so I ignore some of his unfortunate tendencies.

He also stabbed Malcolm X in the back--are we supposed to celebrate that, too?

I don't, I celebrate the positive Ali that most of the world knows.

[ancianita]

4. I celebrate it, too. Ali's Islamic views are never mentioned. He speaks of self-serving whites'

privileged excuse that "Not all whites are racist."

Where do you get that Ali stabbed Malcolm X in the back. I was alive back then and never heard about it.

Here's what he actually said about Ali.

It's my view, and probably his, that those who stand silent against those who are racist are complicit in keeping the tools of racism -- marginalization, intimidation and threats of force -- in place.

Nowhere is there mention of Islam here. Not that that would be a bad thing, either. I can't believe you think Islam is a hate cult, either. Most people on DU don't. Weird.

[uhnope]

5. I didn't say Islam was a hate-cult. I said Louis Farrakhan's Nation of Islam was a hate-cult.

you either misread or you are just trollin'.

[ancianita]

6. "You tarnish...by citing only his views influenced by his membership in the hate-cult, Nation of

Islam.

You're the troll here, in attempting to tarnish both the "hate-cult" Nation of Islam, as you call it, and worldwide Islam's embrace of its American "denomination."

Only a troll would turn a tribute of The Greatest into a personal accusation of "tarnishing."

Why do you even bother except to put down a fellow DU'er. And a religion.

[uhnope]

7. the SPLC lists Nation of Islam as a hate group

because it is
http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-files/groups/nation-of-islam

Its theology of innate black superiority over whites and the deeply racist, anti-Semitic and anti-gay rhetoric of its leaders have earned the NOI a prominent position in the ranks of organized hate.

[ancianita]

8. NOW. But in Ali's day NOI was an accepted member group of worldwide Islam. Your point is moot.

[uhnope]

9. lol. oh yeah, NOI was so mellow & tolerant in the 60s

actually, if anything, they were worse back then.

you're wrong on this one

[ancianita]

10. I'm right. The NOI was building, Sunni-ish in its orthodox adherence when they internally split

ten years after Malcolm X's assassination, since it was his pointing out the leadership's contradictory adherence to orthodox Islam that led to his death.

Then Elijah Muhammed's NOI became the Society of Muslims and was accepted by the larger ummah of orthodox Islam, while Farrakhan's NOI continued on in Chicago to eventually embrace Dianetics.

You simply refuse to acknowledge that Muhammad Ali was Sunni Muslim.

This thread was about Muhammad Ali, not your ill-spirited tangential obsession with NOI. You need to go start your own thread about Islam and NOI. See how far that gets you around here.

Thanks for the continued thread bumps, though.