Being Among Greatness

WHEN I WAS FIFTEEN, in 1970, my father, who tried his best to expose me to a wide range of cultural and artistic experiences, took me to a major university campus to hear Muhammed Ali speak. ali had been stripped of his heavyweight boxing title in 1967, for refusing to be drafted into the army for service in Viet Nam. Cassius Clay grew in in Louisville, was treated like a second class citizen, not allowed to eat in white restaurant, not allowed to drink from white only water fountains nor to use white only restrooms - the while black discrimination  scenario we all know so well, and then was expected to serve his country by fighting in Viet Nam. Hell no! I was proud of him then, and I'm proud of him now. The basketball arena was filled to capacity; must have been nine thousand people there, including about five African-Americans, the total black student enrollment in this segregated southern college campus, where every fraternity flew a confederate flag. Ali picked the handful of black students out of the crowd - they stood out, and he could easily see them from the podium - and spoke directly to them. you shouldn't be going to school here, he said. You should be going to an all black university, like Grambling, or something. Most of the crowd murmured and hissed in response, but nothing too blatant; Ali was, after all, an invited speaker, and he was surrounded by a number of well built, well dressed African-american bodyguards. At universities, even those in the segregationist south, controversial topics tend not to be avoided, but addressed directly. He explained why he refused to fight in Viet Nam, his upbringing, and why he felt that America had let him down his entire life, so it was time for him to let America down, and the crowd listened, quietly, unable to escape his reasoning. (Ali appealed his draft evasion conviction all the way to the Supreme Court, and won his case there, and was reinstated in boxing, and won his title back.) He said that he received much support from fans in the form of letters, from both black and white people, all encouraging him to keep doing the right thing, to resist racism and resist being forced to fight a war he knew was immoral. He said that should he be convicted and sent to prison, he would do his time, without resistance, knowing in his heart he was in the right, serving his God. Ali made money speaking at universities all across american during his three year suspension from boxing, always with the same militant message. The crowds always listened, unable to avoid his truth. On one campus, he was surrounded by a conservative fraternity, which challenged him by asking why he refused to serve his country. He responded that he aint got nuthin' against nobody in Viet Nam. if he was gonna fight anybody, I want to fight you! He was big and impressive, and looked dashing in his three piece suit, and no frat boy dared take him up on his offer.To this day nobody ever has.