DEPARTURE OF THE 'GREAT ONE' -1

When the great one was asked to put on uniform and go fighting :

"Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 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? No I’m not going 10,000 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. This is the day when such evils must come to an end. I have been warned that to take such a stand would cost me millions of dollars. But I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of my people is 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…. 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. I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I’ll go to jail, so what? We’ve been in jail for 400 years."

After taking this stand and refusing to be drafted into the US Army, Ali was arrested, convicted as a felon, stripped of his boxing title, prohibited from boxing anywhere and given a prison sentence for refusing to go to Vietnam. He appealed it all the way to the Supreme Court where he won. 

This is the kind of selfless, courageous action we are sorely missing today. Who amongst us would risk EVERYTHING for what we believe in, for doing what we know in our hearts is right?

It's never too late.

(Thanks Micheal for sharing this wonderful piece of history)



Duaien for all

Akhtar N Janjua