Can't wait to see the negative responses. Yes, he joined the NOI, but fighting the draft board deserves respect, especially because it cost him severely.
“My conscience won’t let me go shoot my brother, or some darker people, some poor, hungry people in the mud, for big powerful America, and shoot them for what?”
Ain't gonna get a negative response from me. Met Ali a couple of times;one time in Chicago, I think it was either before the first Frazier fight, or the Foreman fight. He was walking down Michigan Ave with a crowd around him. He stopped to sign autographs and answer questions, so I stepped into the mix. He really was beautiful, I mean Greek god come to life beautiful. I asked him:
"What about all those writers who say you've slowed down?"
"What writers? Who cares about them? I want to know if you think I've slowed down?"
I shrugged my shoulders. "I have no idea, " I said. Then Ali said: "Don't move. Don't move a muscle." The crowd around us backed up and oohed.
Ali threw maybe 20 punches at my head, at different points on my face, pulling each punch by about 1/4 inch to avoid contact. I didn't move because I never saw any of the punches coming...just a blur.
Then Ali stopped and said "Now what do you think?"
I said, "I'm betting on you, Champ." I then asked him for his autograph, and he took the book I was holding and signed the title page. The book was Marcuse's Reason and Revolution, which I still have to this day, with Ali's autograph on the title page.
The other thing I noticed when Ali was signing my book-- the knuckles on both hands were bone white-- from all the impacts from all the punches.