America and blacks are far better off for this aggressive change in attitude, right?<\/p>\n
New York Times<\/a>: “In Chicago over Memorial Day weekend, 64 people were shot, six fatally.”<\/p>\n Joyce Carol Oates writes<\/a>:<\/p>\n When Muhammad Ali was a young man, the best black boxers were expected to be cautious and restrained. But Ali would have none of it….<\/p>\n White male anxieties were, evidently, greatly roiled by the spectacle of the strong black man, and had to be assuaged. The greater the black boxer (Joe Louis, Archie Moore, Ezzard Charles), the more urgent that he assume a public role of caution and restraint. Kindly white men who advised their black charges to be a \u201ccredit to their race\u201d were not speaking ironically.<\/p>\n And yet, the young Cassius Clay\/Muhammad Ali refused to play this emasculating role. He would not be the \u201cwhite man\u2019s Negro\u201d \u2014 he would not be anything of the white man\u2019s at all. Converting to the Nation of Islam at the age of 22, immediately after winning the heavyweight championship from Sonny Liston, he denounced his \u201cslave name\u201d (Cassius Marcellus Clay, which was also his father\u2019s name) and the Christian religion; in refusing to serve in the Army he made his political reasons clear: \u201cI ain\u2019t got no quarrel with them Vietcong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" America and blacks are far better off for this aggressive change in attitude, right? New York Times: “In Chicago over Memorial Day weekend, 64 people were shot, six fatally.” Joyce Carol Oates writes: When Muhammad Ali was a young man, … Continue reading