Ali Page #3

You what?

Well, what's wrong with our name?

My name?

We-- We made you.

Ain't nobody made me.

No bow tie-wearin',

Arab-talkin' n*gger gonna change that.

Ain't nobody in that ring but me.

I made me.

You don't know who you are.

I know who I ain't.

I ain't drinkin'.

I ain't going back on my wife

and for sure I ain't prayin'...

to no blond-haired,

blue-eyed Jesus.

Paintin' those blue-eyed, blond-haired

Jesuses is what put food in you.

- Steak and vegetables on the table.

- It's dinner!

Go ahead.

Go ahead.

Hello?

Here you go, Daddy.

Thank you, baby.

- Yeah?

- Brother Malcolm.

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad has given

the Muslim name of Muhammad Ali...

to Cassius X.

Herbert Muhammad has been put

in charge of his training.

He will not be traveling

with you to Africa.

He also asked me

to inform you...

that your suspension

will be extended indefinitely.

Brother Cassius

won't be coming to Africa.

Not with me.

Don't put it off.

We'll be fine.

I will.

I got a little doll

for Atallah.

Really?

Yeah, it's beautiful.

I've got so much

to show the girls when I get back.

- I'm taking a lot of pictures.

- Yeah?

Yeah, I got some good stuff

I want to show you.

Are you eating?

Well, you're not cooking, so--

- What's going on? Anything?

- Nothing.

He's on the phone,

talking to his wife.

She's having a hard time sleeping,

the baby's kicking a lot...

what are they gonna

name the baby.

I just wake up a couple of times

in the night, but it's okay.

Would you like to take a seat?

Sure, thank you.

What y'all done did

with the real pilot?

I am the pilot.

He's the copilot.

Here. Sit down, Mr. Clay.

Oh, man.

In Louisville, where I growed up,

they barely let black folks drive buses.

Muhammad!

Hey, brother.

What's going on, man?

- What you doing here?

- I was just going to the airport.

We just got here now.

So where you going?

Liberia.

Say hello to Maya Angelou right here

and Ambassador Huang Hua.

And that is Taher Kaid.

He's the ambassador from Algeria.

Oh, man. Where should I go?

I wanna go all over this place.

Go to Algeria.

See Ben Bella.

Then go to see Mecca and Medina.

I just came from there.

Made my seven circuits

around the Kaaba.

I prayed at sunrise. Two million people.

Pilgrims from all over, man.

Dressed the same.

High and low, the same.

Blond-haired, blue-eyed Muslims,

Arabs, Africans, Indonesians.

Seeing brothers just like us,

praying together, it was beautiful.

I drank water

from the well of Zem Zem.

I prayed in the ancient city of Mena.

I prayed on Mount Arafat.

You shouldn't have quarreled

with Elijah Muhammad.

Walking in their footsteps.

All of us together.

You shouldn't have quarreled

with the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

What?

You shouldn't have quarreled

with Elijah Muhammad.

Hey, Brother Muhammad,

look here.

Brother Muhammad!

Listen, I'm sorry

to keep you waiting.

Sonji, Sonji, Sonji.

- What you keep saying my name for?

- 'Cause I love it, girl.

-How long you been working with Herbert?

-About a year.

I sell Muhammad Speaks

over the phone.

- What kind of name is that?

- My father named me after Sonja Henie.

What's your father do?

He was shot in a poker game

when I was two, so he don't do nothing.

And my mother died

when I was eleven.

- Who raised you?

- My godparents.

But I been off on my own

for a long time.

What you doing tomorrow?

Go for a ride with me.

- Oh, no, no. I gotta work.

- I'm gonna square it with Herbert.

- Herbert said you met the Beatles.

- Oh, yeah, yeah.

Only one of 'em is smart, though.

The fella with the glasses.

Oh, he is my favorite.

Yeah, folks was screaming

and fainting.

I said, "Man, is this how they act

when you get big?"

- What did he say?

- He said, "Champ...

the more real you get,

the more unreal it's gonna get."

Wow.

Let's go.

Yeah.

Where you live?

I'm gonna take you there.

You ain't no Muslim, huh?

Cover my hair, wear no makeup

and wear those long dresses?

Honey, please.

Were you a virgin?

A virgin? How you gonna--

What you saying?

Well, you were just so gone,

off on a little good time.

Well, no,

I ain't no virgin.

But I may as well be.

I ain't joking.

I always know when I know.

You see this face?

You got a pretty face

for a lady's face...

but you ever seen anything

as pretty as me?

Who wouldn't want

to be with me?

What, you five foot three

or something like that?

That's too small for me,

but I'm gonna make an exception.

- Oh, well, thank you.

- Because of your spirit.

- My spirit?

- Yeah, girl. You too much fun.

- But you got to be a Muslim.

- A Muslim?

And how you do that? You jump over

a broom and, shazam, you're a Muslim?

I ain't never been

with nobody like you.

And, baby...

baby, you ain't never

gonna be with any other.

- What?

- That's right.

I wanna marry her.

True love.

You don't marry that girl.

She was a date.

Have some fun.

She's not your wife.

You don't marry this girl.

Here's some management papers.

I need you to sign right there.

My father would kill me.

Watch what you're signing, Ali.

This ain't got nothing

to do with you.

Anything's to do with me I say is to do

with me, fat boy. I'm still a Christian.

And get me a kosher cook. I want

that lady over at Malcolm's temple.

- Lana Shabazz.

- And put my brother on payroll.

Fifty G a year

just for drivin' and jivin'.

What do you say, Howard?

Come on full-time as my photographer?

I'm not gonna be on the payroll.

I'm freelance. Emphasis on "free."

Muhammad, she's not for you.

When I met her,

she worked in a cocktail lounge...

with a bunny tail

on her backside.

What the hell was you doing

in a bunny tail lounge anyway, Herbert?

Sellin' Muhammad Peeks?

- You been saving it up training, Ali.

- Your ass.

You should spread that stuff around

a little bit before you settle down.

No, man. Marriage is

the cornerstone of Muslim life.

- Yeah, well, Sonji Roi is not a Muslim.

- Well, she's gonna be now.

You just fix it up, Herbert.

Yeah. Okay.

So, why we meeting?

I got Malcolm shoulder to shoulder

with Martin Luther King.

And we got Malcolm traveling all over

the world, getting Ben Bella and Nasser.

We were better off before

with Malcolm inside the Nation.

So we've decided

we want you...

to get Elijah Muhammad

to take Malcolm back.

That's a joke, Joe.

When am I being reimbursed

for my expenses?

Dry-cleaning all these suits

is not free.

We gotta talk about this guy too.

Get me receipts, I'll reimburse you

for your dry cleaning.

- What you drinking?

- What I'm drinking?

Come on, champ. This is water.

You know I'm a natural man.

You know.

- What's going on? We're late.

- I'm changing my damn clothes.

You gave me that look,

so I know you don't like what I had on.

- What is this?

- What you wanted, isn't it?

- A water glass with vodka in it.

- No, that was before.

- Before what, sir?

- Before you showed up. Get out of here.

I'm fine running around here

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