Does ALIs refusal to go to vietnam?....

[Calilloyd]

[QUOTE=Carnivore;7089025]You are the ignorant one. My grandparents were enslaved by communism.

Not in the UNITED STATES you ignoramous. That's what was in question.

[The Stone Roses]

damnit...why are there so many racists on this site....Muhammad Ali didn't want to fight for a country who didn't give him basic human rights.....if you are not allowed to eat a sandwich in a restaurant just because you're black how would you feel? you bloody yanks are incredible....after all this time i can't believe there are still people that hate Muhammad Ali........ALi made our sport mainstream....nuff said

[oaklandstephen]

Perhaps, but if Gene Tunney and Joe Louis and others were willing to fight for their country, why not Ali?

Back in those days, there was prejudice against blacks in parts of the US, but Cassius Clay's family was not badly treated and had a comfortable middle-class income (let's not forget, he had white relatives as well as black).

America chose Cassius Clay to represent the US in the Olympics. The media was always very good to him and gave him a great deal of attention - he was a household name even before he fought Liston.

muhmmad ali said he had white relatives because one of the slave masters that owned his great grandma or somethin got friendly with her also
america didnt choose him to represent them. he earned his way into that positon, and america didnt treat him well, if i remember correctly after he won the gold medal he went to eat in a restaurant and wasnt allowed to eat there because he was black.

[oaklandstephen]

My grandparents were not communists, they were opposed to Bolshevism (Soviet communism), that's why they left.

It's better to eat out back with the dogs than be deliberately starved to death, or worked to death in the freezing cold in a Gulag (slave labor camp). At least the US blacks were free, they could decide to go north if they wanted.

From wikipedia:

"According to Soviet data, a total of 1,053,829 people died in the GULAG from 1934 to 1953, not counting those who died in labor colonies or those who died shortly after their release but which resulted from the harsh treatment in the camps."

do u not know there was slavery in america for 300 years? just in case u didnt know heres a link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery..._United_States

[oaklandstephen]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivJSp...&feature=email

WOWWWWWWWW ive never seen or heard about this thank u very much for posting the vid, im surprised no one ever talks about it.

[TopContender]

It's not about patriotism. It's about courage. Ali had a point. He was right to question the justness of the war. But at the same time, he revealed he was a *****. Plain and simple he was scared to go, so he quickly thought up the best way to do it, convert to islam. How convenient. He was right and he was a *****. They are not mutually exclusive.

Don't comment on stuff you know nothing about. You know absolutely nothing about his conversion to islam, so stop pretending that you do.

[ICEMAN JOHN SCULLY]

Ali converted to islam several years before they ever tried to get him to go to Nam'

[-Antonio-]

The world was different back then. Ali probably heard and dealt with a lot of racism when he grew older. I mean he dished it back out on his peers (Fraizer) but I can see his stance at the time. I wouldn't call a man who went through what he went through in the ring a coward either. It goes deeper than just being "scared".

[ICEMAN JOHN SCULLY]

ANYONE who actually claims Ali was scared, was a coward, etc etc...has no idea what they are talking about because, LISTEN, he would NOT have seen battle!!! There was no chance he would be on the front lines firing guns and bombs...he'd do exhibitions, etc etc...

[ICEMAN JOHN SCULLY]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANciqN3lydI << Ali speaks on the war...