Muhammad Ali Inspiration Against Apartheid Of All Time

Nairita Nahrin Barisha :
Third June marks the fifth death anniversary of legendary sports man Muhammad Ali.Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr., later widely known as Muhammad Ali on converting to the religion of Islam, was born on January 17th, 1942, in Louisville Kentucky. His journey to the boxing career started at the age of 12 when his bicycle got stolen and as the young crying Cassius told a Louisville policeman, Joe Martin, his plan to whip the person who stole it. Joe would later become the man who introduced him to the world of boxing, suggesting him to learn to fight before beating anyone up on the street. This will be the pivotal moment in Muhammad Ali’s life.
He would go on to win the gold medal at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, representing the United States of America. Back home everyone celebrated the win of then Cassius Clay. He made the people of his town proud as he brought honour to the whole country. But winning the medal and bringing honour to his county did not bring him equality. He soon realized the medal could not make him escape the deep rooted segregation and racism that existed in America at that time when one day he was refused to be served at a white restaurant. He later wrote about it in his autobiographical book;
“I came back to Louisville after the Olympics with my shiny gold medal. Went into a luncheonette where black folks couldn’t eat. Thought I’d put them on the spot. I sat down and asked for a meal,the Olympic champion wearing his gold medal. They said, “We don’t serve niggers here.” I said, “That’s okay, I don’t eat ’em.” But they put me out in the street. So I went down to the river, the Ohio River, and threw my gold medal in it.”
 As Ali threw away the medal, he vouched to break free from the oppressive status quo and fight for the freedom and inequalities that the black people had been enduring for centuries.  
Throughout his life, Ali had been a devoted Muslim and this dedication to the religion of Islam would not go untested as well. As luck would have it, he would have to pay a heavy price and his boxing career would soon come to a halt when he refused to be inducted in the Vietnam War on his religious beliefs. And while many athletes and influential people had kept their heads down and shied away from giving out their opinions, Muhammad Ali made his voice loud and clear for the world to know how he thought it was an unjust war saying, “Why would I shoot a bunch of poor people who aren’t attacking big powerful America? What have they done to me? They never called me nigger, they never lynched me, they didn’t put any dog on me, they didn’t rob me of my nationality, rape and kill my mother and father … Shoot them for what? How can I shoot poor people? Just take me to jail.” This deep conviction of Ali would later result in him being in exile for nearly four years.
But boxing was merely a way to reach the audience and get his message across as he said many times. His real fight had always been outside of the ring fighting for the downtrodden of the society by becoming the voice of millions of those who were voiceless. And this fight outside of the ring is what made him the most beloved figure on the planet and the people’s champion.
Muhammad Ali’s technique to get people to buy tickets often overshadowed the kind side of him. He believed if he bragged too much it would make people agitated enough to pay for tickets to watch him get beat. He took trash talking to a whole new level that he became the king of trash talking. And so Ali never left a chance to brag about himself and his skills. He would give nicknames to every opponent he fought, calling Floyd Patterson – the rabbit, George Foreman – the mummy, Sonny Liston – the big ugly bear, Joe Frazier – the gorilla and so on. Ali even wrote poems for his opponents; “If you like to lose your money / Be a fool and bet on Sonny.”
And it was Ali’s boastful nature that made him stand out in the world of boxing. He would go on to make history by winning the world heavyweight title three times, bragging all the way “he was the greatest of all times”. But greatness cannot even come close to describing what he did for the people. Muhammad Ali would finally lose the longest battle of 32 years to Parkinson disease at the age of 74. He may be gone but his legacy will surely live on.

(Barisha is a student, Department of English, East West University).