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Title: Ali in exile: Rarely seen photographs capture Muhammad Ali when he was banned from the ring after refusing to serve in Vietnam
Source:
dailymail
URL Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/ushome/index.html
Published: Oct 27, 2013
Author: Ashley Collman
Post Date: 2013-10-27 04:02:47 by noone222
Keywords: None
Views: 485
Comments: 34
He was born Cassius Clay, but we all know him by his chosen Islamic name - Muhammad Ali. While there are many pictures of the legendary boxer in the ring, very few show him in the years he was banned from the sport for refusing to serve in the Vietnam War. 'War is against the teachings of the Holy Qur'an,' he said. 'I'm not trying to dodge the draft. We are not supposed to take part in no wars unless declared by Allah or The Messenger. We don't take part in Christian wars or wars of any unbelievers.' When he failed to enlist on April 28, 1967, he was not only arrested, but had his boxing license suspended and his title stripped. Initially a Houston, Texas court found him guilty of violating Selective Service but the U.S. Supreme Court overruled that decision in 1971 and Ali was free to enter the ring again. Ali never had to serve jail time, but he still wasn't allowed to fight between 1967 and 1971. Instead he spent those years at the height of the civil rights movement speaking at colleges and universities. He never regretted his decision to stand up for what he believed in. 'I'm happy cause I'm free,' he told Time magazine in 1968. 'I've made a stand all black people are gonna have to make sooner or later - whether or not they can stand up to the master'. The following photo set shows Ali during 1968, when the boxer was still banned from boxing but continuing to command the attention of Americans across the country. www.dailymail.co.uk/news/...fusing-serve-Vietnam.html Poster Comment: 'I'm happy cause I'm free,' he told Time magazine in 1968. 'I've made a stand all black people are gonna have to make sooner or later - whether or not they can stand up to the master'. Mohammed Ali 'I'm happy cause I'm free,' I've made a stand all people are gonna have to make sooner or later - whether or not they can stand up to the master' Doug
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 21.
#1. To: noone222 (#0)
Ali got a free ride, I detest free riders.
I detest grumpy old men ! Ali didn't get anything for free. The Vietnam war, and for that matter all of them, are supportive of the real free riders. In a really free society a man should be able to decide for himself if he wishes to engage in war. But, thanks for the comment.
Fair nuff. All my life we have been at war. Being from the dregs of society, none of us received a free ride, NONE. The free riders were NOT opposing the system, rather they were USING it as did Ali. Would Ali have gotten a free ride if he was a cotton picker from Alabama??? Of course not. "Nobodies" that resist are shot or hauled off in chains. Those of us at the bottom understand the system full well and this back during the Civil War says it all... "J P Morgan had escaped military service in the Civil War by paying $300 to a substitute. So did John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Philip Armour, Jay Gould, and James Mellon. Mellon's father had written to him that "a man may be a patriot without risking his own life or sacrificing his health. There are plenty of lives less valuable." Indeed, I was one of the "less valuable". Eddie Slovik was a nobody, a less valuable, Ike shot him.
I remember that. He was shot for desertion if I recall properly. ;)
Desertion from the front lines. He went behind the lines, turned himself in, said he could not take the bombing and shelling. Thousands did the same thing. Ike, never fired a shot, never had his hands dirty in combat, decided to take another mans life to set an example. That takes a lot of gall.
That takes a lot of gall. Ike and Patton both participated in the smashing of the Bonus Army at the order of MacArthur.
My memory fails me on number, but in WW1 MacArthur garnered at least six silver stars. As a Colonel, he would strap on a 45 cal, and go alone into no mans land to recon the Germans. Everyone else would send lowest ranking enlisted men out to do the dirty work.
As a Colonel, he would strap on a 45 cal, and go alone into no mans land to recon the Germans. Everyone else would send lowest ranking enlisted men out to do the dirty work. In otherwords he knew the priceless value of self reliance. Never ask of another for what you can do for yourself. If you want a revolution you gotta do it like Ali or MacAurthur . Yourself.
Normal procedure is for the Colonel to tell his EO to send a three man recon out in no mans land after dark to probe the enemy positions. The EO is hot to please the Col so he tells a LT squad leader to get it done. The LT tells the lead enlisted Sgt to take care of it. The Sgt picks a Cpl he does not like and tells him to hit it on the run. The Cpl knows of two new guys that are tying to stay hidden. The Cpl, having been this route before clues in the newbies, we go out aways, find cover, take an hour nap and then go back. We tell the truth, we did not see a damned thing. Cpl tells the misfits, anything I say, you back it up.
That's a helluva way to run a war.
True... The deck is stacked against the enlisted in all military units in the world. I have never understood the thinking of any lifer in any military.
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#2. To: Cynicom (#1)
Ali got a free ride, I detest free riders.
#3. To: noone222 (#2)
I detest grumpy old men !
#4. To: Cynicom (#3)
Eddie Slovik was a nobody, a less valuable, Ike shot him.
#6. To: BTP Holdings (#4)
I remember that. He was shot for desertion if I recall properly. ;)
#10. To: Cynicom (#6)
Ike, never fired a shot, never had his hands dirty in combat, decided to take another mans life to set an example.
#13. To: X-15 (#10)
#14. To: Cynicom (#13)
(Edited)
My memory fails me on number, but in WW1 MacArthur garnered at least six silver stars.
#15. To: titorite (#14)
In otherwords he knew the priceless value of self reliance. Never ask of another for what you can do for yourself.
#16. To: Cynicom (#15)
#21. To: X-15 (#16)
That's a helluva way to run a war.
Replies to Comment # 21.