The Trials of Muhammad Ali Page #4

I says that.

He says, "And I got a name of culture now.

My name is Muhammad Ali."

Now that he gave me the beautiful

name of Muhammad Ali...

and took away that slave name

of Cassius Clay,

now I can go all over the world.

All over the world!

Muslims all over the world

who never followed boxing said,

"Ooh! Look.

There's a Muslim in America

named Muhammad Ali.

Those are big, big names

in the Islamic world.

His international appeal,

it was vast.

Welcome.

The young people of Ghana

want to welcome you.

Ghana, Nigeria,

Pakistan and Turkey,

they call me

their champion too.

I was surprised.

The whole world was watching it.

- They sure were.

- Yeah.

What kind of impression

do you try to leave...

on the nations

you visit over there?

Well, uh,

just as a clean-living Muslim.

Letting them know they have hundreds and

thousands of brothers here in America.

All of these are Muslim

countries that I've been to.

He's in a better position

than anyone else...

to restore the racial pride to not

only our people in this country,

but all over the world.

As-salaam alaikum.

I've been all over into

the deepest parts of Africa...

and Egypt, and everybody knows and are

talking about the Muslims in America.

Everybody.

And if it was not for the teachings

of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad...

not bragging,

but a man in my position...

that would be the last place

I would go is Africa and Egypt.

The first stop would have been Paris,

London, France, like the rest of them.

He hired Elijah

Muhammad's son to be his "manager."

But it was very clear that he didn't really mean

manager like the Louisville Sponsoring Group.

How many managers do you have?

Oh, I have 11 backers.

I don't... I have one manager.

They flattered him.

They treated him as a very important person,

which, of course, he was.

They made him a hero.

He didn't live

in Louisville anymore.

But he was never introduced as anything

except from Louisville, Kentucky.

To a boxer, that's not a small thing,

how you're announced.

Ali kept his word on every

fight that we made for him.

And he never argued about black

or white problems with us.

I think Ali probably told

the Muslims

don't mess with the

Louisville Sponsoring Group.

Leave them alone.

I understand that you're headed

to meet with Elijah Muhammad.

- Yes, sir. Having dinner with him.

- Uh-huh.

One of the main reasons is your

friendship with Malcolm X.

- He's a friend of yours now, isn't he?

- Yeah. He is a brother of mine.

- He's my brother. Whatever he do,

he's my brother. - Uh-huh.

Now that he's split away

from the...

I don't know about splitting. I'll have

to see the higher authority on that.

There's been great

publicity given to the fact...

that heavyweight champion Cassius

Clay is one of your followers.

Well, Cassius is following

Elijah Muhammad.

And, uh, I'm no longer a follower

of Elijah Muhammad myself.

And I think that

the black Muslim movement,

if it doesn't adopt

the Sunni practice of Islam,

that it will disintegrate

and fall apart.

There's no organization

in this country...

that could do more

for the struggling black man...

than the black Muslim movement

if it wanted to.

But it has gotten

into the possession...

of a man who's become senile,

and then he has surrounded

himself by his children...

who are now in power

and want nothing but luxury...

and will do anything to

safeguard their own interests.

People like myself and Ali,

we were in the valley of decision.

Should I follow a man

that taught me...

or should I follow the teacher

of the man who taught me?

Elijah Muhammad called

all of his officials...

national officials

to Chicago in October...

and ordered them to kill

or maim any of his followers...

who leave him to follow me.

Does this split disturb you

that's been reported?

No. What Malcolm X does is his business.

He's one man.

Muhammad Ali chose to go

with the establishment, so to speak.

Elijah Muhammad has given

his blessing to a new recruiter...

Cassius Muhammad Ali Clay.

We are the greatest!

Clay is no Malcolm X,

but he has become

an idol for youngsters.

A lot of Malcolmites

who were following Malcolm...

were really not equally attracted

to the Nation of Islam.

They were attracted to Malcolm's audacity,

his eloquence...

and his vision, which, in some ways,

elaborated the vision of the Nation of Islam.

I pray that God will bless you

in everything that you do.

I pray that you

will grow intellectually...

so that you can understand

the problems of the world...

and where you fit into

in that world picture.

He's a hero to me.

He stood out among all black people.

He showed the white man

where it was at.

Who do you believe is

responsible for Malcolm X's death?

The white power structure

is America is behind it.

And they're quick to capitalize on it by

saying that one of his own kind did it.

But they put it up to be done.

Now, I give him credit for the good work he

done when he was with the Nation of Islam.

We didn't have nobody better.

But Elijah Muhammad made him.

When Malcolm was a good man...

preaching the teachings of

the Honorable Elijah Muhammad,

I would have

gave my life for him.

But when he turned viciously...

against the Honorable

Elijah Muhammad,

if I could have got a hold of him,

I might have killed him myself.

But we didn't kill him.

'Cause you know why?

Because we took orders from

the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

He told us not to touch him.

Let him just go.

Malcolm is the victim

of his own preaching.

He preached violence,

and so he become the victim of it.

So many things have

been said wrong about Malcolm X.

Malcolm X was

a very nice person.

The Bible says "He without sin

cast the first stone."

That's a strong statement.

The night that

Malcolm X was killed,

there was a fire

in Ali's apartment.

The implication

was that it was arson.

That it was some

sort of revenge.

Uh, I don't know.

I think there's no question that Ali

had to have been scared himself.

Malcolm, in many ways,

was a more important political

figure than Muhammad Ali.

I mean, if you could waste him,

you could certainly waste Ali.

He was still just a boxer.

I feel for his life because the

condition the world is in today.

And, uh, you never know

what's going to happen...

when you're in public life

like he is.

And I'm much concerned about the

fire that started in his apartment.

And I do wish that he would

withdraw from this movement...

because I am awful worried

about him.

We raised him

to be a Christian...

and took him to church every

Sunday when he was small...

on up till he got out, you know,

in the world on his own.

And then he got in this organization

which we do not approve of at all.

Your mother was quoted

yesterday in Louisville as saying...

that she felt you ought to

leave the Muslim movement.

- How do you feel about... - It's natural

for a mother to be worried about her son...

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