The Trials of Muhammad Ali Page #6

He set the standard.

The contract with the

Louisville Sponsoring

Group was expiring.

The group...

they were disappointed,

and one or two didn't want

to be affiliated with...

It was more of the draft business

than it was the Muslim business.

Although that was part of it.

He called all members

to say thanks and shake hands,

and au revoir.

And I will say here

boldly now on television...

no.

I will not go 10,000 miles

from here...

to help murder and kill

another poor people...

simply to continue

the domination...

of white slave masters over the

darker people of the earth.

You fight when you

have something to fight for.

But what are we fighting for?

To tell me that I'm

fighting for America...

and her way of life.

What is her way of life?

To come back home

to injustice...

with all these medals

on our chest?

Hell, no.

Mr. Muhammad Ali has just

refused to be inducted...

into the United States

Armed Forces.

Notification of his refusal is being

made to the United States Attorney...

and the local

Selective Service Board...

for whatever action

deem to be appropriate.

And so it is all over for the heavyweight

champion of the world, Muhammad Ali.

What happens now to his title?

He will doubtless

be stripped of it...

by every state boxing commission

in this country...

and by

the World Boxing Association.

All type of moves

have been made against me...

that's never been made before

in the history of boxing.

Regardless of the ultimate

disposition of his case legally,

he will no longer be

the champion.

Well, now that they've taken Cassius Clay's

title away, do you think they should have?

Well, I don't know.

I think they should, yes.

I think that any man who don't

wanna fight for his country,

I don't think he should have

the honor of being champion.

The tragedy to me is...

that Cassius has made millions of

dollars off of the American public.

And now he's not willing

to show his appreciation.

Hurts the morale of a lot of

young Negro soldiers

over in Vietnam.

You won't fight

for your country?

- You refuse to go into the...

- I'm a minister. My religion.

This country

has laws for ministers.

- Are you an ordained minister?

- By my leader.

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

Almighty God Allah fights battles for us.

We are forbidden

to carry anything like a weapon.

We are peaceful people.

Do you think

there's anything wrong...

in someone like Cassius Clay,

Muhammad Ali, in refusing induction?

Yes, sir, I certainly do.

- Why?

- 'Cause he's no better than the rest of us.

I got a wife and three kids

I'd like to stay here with,

but if they need me,

I reckon I'll go.

Simply because Muhammad Ali

has these beliefs,

there's no reason why people

should go against him.

It took an all-white jury

less than a half hour...

to find Muhammad Ali guilty of

all charges and specifications.

He was sentenced to the maximum

five years in prison...

and was fined $10,000.

To have a heavyweight

champion refuse to be inducted,

that was almost blasphemous.

This would mean, of course, that

you stand the chance of going to jail...

as a result of not going

into service.

Well, whatever the punishment,

whatever the persecution is for

standing up for my religious beliefs,

even if it mean facing

machine gun fire that day,

I will face it before denouncing Elijah

Muhammad and the religion of Islam.

I'm ready to die.

I was happy that this

black man, he actually stood up...

and did what a Muslim would do.

And that took a lot of balls.

And he would come into my...

He would try to, you know...

try to get to me, but he couldn't.

And he would be trying

to look for me.

But by us having

all the white unis on,

he had to try to look at your

face because he couldn't tell.

So he would always eye

at me in the mosque...

and keep his eyes and all that... you know,

flirting like.

I knew he was mine.

He was mine then.

When I find

out that's who he was gonna marry,

I jumped for joy.

It was a big

blessing to him. She was a virgin.

To marry a virgin...

I said, "Boy, you hit the jackpot."

That's what I told him.

And she was young and pretty.

Khalilah... one of a kind.

She's the female Muhammad Ali.

Sweet, kind, good lady.

He loved the fact that I stuck with

him when he didn't have anything.

I tried to keep

everything positive...

and started a family,

and that was a good thing.

I'm not having no trouble out of you.

There ain't but one

big mouth in this family.

I said, "Brother,

let me tell you something.

If you keep your body in shape and keep

your mind clear, you will win this fight."

The government fight has cost

nearly some $200,000...

plus my living expenses... my mother,

my father, my brother, my wife, my children.

Boxing commissions around the

country wouldn't sanction his fights.

I'm just about broke.

I'm not allowed to work here now in America.

I'm not allowed

to leave America.

Is there any chance

of you boxing?

I really don't know.

One day we might.

I'm not too sure.

I tried to get

him back into the ring...

and get governors to allow

him to fight in their state.

Alabama.

Utah.

Jackson, Mississippi.

The white man told me

to get back on the airplane.

I tried Alcatraz Island.

I tried every place

that I could think of.

The only answer to the

beleaguerments of Muhammad Ali...

might be the stripped jet plane sailing

above all local jurisdictions...

with two fighters and 200 fans.

They had tried to put

a ring inside a 757.

Wilt, there's been rumors that

you are ready to fight Cassius Clay.

Are any of these rumors true?

Actually fighting

Muhammad Ali was not a rumor.

That was a plan. But right now

it's all down the drain.

We start doing

the speaking engagements.

That was the circuit

that really sustained him.

He got paid.

Black and white are

opposite of one another.

The opposite of good is bad.

The opposite of hot is cold.

In the beginning,

he was terrible.

And the opposite

of black is white.

He would go into Muslim dogma.

What is it

that the Muslims believe?

Number one, we're gonna say a few

things on what the Muslims want.

Remember, he was 12 years old...

when he committed himself

to boxing.

Suddenly, you're

in this tunnel of your talent.

You just concentrate on being this

great boxer, which he became.

You wave through so many

of the tollbooths of life.

So now suddenly, it's 1967.

He has refused to step forward.

He's 25 years old.

He's out on his own.

He's on college campuses.

He thought all these kids were

really smart kids out there.

They were going to ask him

really tough questions,

which, to a great extent,

they did.

In time of peace,

would you allow yourself to be drafted?

- Would you?

- Yes, sir.

Why?

Do you think that the United

States will eventually separate...

into two different societies,

black and white?

Well, the latest government

fact-finding committee...

said that this is

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