“Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go ten thousand 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 am not going ten thousand 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 put my prestige in jeopardy and could cause me to lose millions of dollars which should accrue to me as the champion.
But I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of my people is right 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. But I either have to obey the laws of the land or the laws of Allah. I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I’ll go to jail. We’ve been in jail for four hundred years.”
So who was ultimately wrong here Kabar, the Democrat controlled government that sent 55,000 kids to their deaths in Vietnam with no chance of winning or a gold medal boxer who said I'm not going to participate in that fools end?
One could certainly apply his philosophy to today and our abject failure in both Iraq and Afghanistan......
I suspect that if there were a draft today and Ali refused to go, he would be applauded....................Funny how times have changed.
The comment was made in the Bruno article that his criticism of Ali had nothing to do with race. Bruno said he had problems with Cheney and others who got deferments and didn't serve.
So who was ultimately wrong here Kabar, the Democrat controlled government that sent 55,000 kids to their deaths in Vietnam with no chance of winning or a gold medal boxer who said I'm not going to participate in that fools end?
It is not about right or wrong. We had a draft at the time. Able citizens who were drafted were expected to serve. You don't get to choose which wars you will participate in and those you won't. It was the same system used in Korea and WWII. Ali made his choice and it has consequences. We can't have a draft where the individual decides which wars are just and which ones are not.
We didn't lose the war militarily. We were actually winning, just like we were in Iraq when our political leaders lost the peace. We entered Iraq under a Rep controlled WH and Congress.
One could certainly apply his philosophy to today and our abject failure in both Iraq and Afghanistan......
LOL. His philosophy? What is that? We don't go after AQ and OBL after they take down the WTC, attack the Pentagon, bomb the USS Cole, attack two of our embassies in East Africa, etc. So how would you apply his philosophy?
I suspect that if there were a draft today and Ali refused to go, he would be applauded....................Funny how times have changed.
No doubt. The country has sunk to a new low. It is all about me and not the country. JFK said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." Patriotism is on the wane. We have a voluntary military today. Reinstituting the draft would be met with howls of resistance. And would we would we draft illegal aliens? Technically, they should be registering now for the draft.