The Trials of Muhammad Ali Page #8

He sees no future...

because his hope,

his inspiration are wiped out like nothing.

Muhammad Ali's making statements about what

was happening in his life and his world...

in this society

in which we live,

and you gonna crucify him and take

his means to support his family away?

Oh, it was wrong.

Simple as that.

The United States leads

the Olympics in medal awards...

and is just about supreme

in the sprint races,

thanks to men like Tommie

Smith and John Carlos.

They came in first and third.

Any time they

have an Olympic Games...

or any time they do a national

anthem at a football game,

that's politics right there.

We felt that

as young individual athletes...

that we could make a significant

difference in society.

I said, "Look, Tommie,

I wanna make a statement."

"Let's put a black glove on and say

although we're proud to be Americans,

we're prouder

to be black Americans."

I had a black shirt on

to cover up my U.S.A...

because I was ashamed

of America...

the way America

has been all these years.

We have a great history

in this country.

But at the same time, we have a

history that we should be ashamed of.

The number-one statement

in my mind...

was to have Muhammad Ali vindicated

from all the nonsense, negativities...

that they try

and put around him...

and give him the right to be

the champion that he deserve.

Wanna let

the whole world know...

that we are going to pick

our heroes from today on.

And brother Tommie Smith,

brother John Carlos...

join the rank

of brother Muhammad Ali...

because we want black people who are concerned

with us first and with sports second.

- Yeah!

- Yea!

When you refused to be drafted,

do you think that it

set a mark in history...

as one black person who just

out and out refused to...

Many have done it before me,

but they were not famous cases.

And I just don't think I should

go 10,000 miles from here...

and shoot some black people

who never called me "n*gger,"

never lynched me,

never put dogs on me,

never raped my mama,

enslaved me...

and deprived me of freedom,

justice and equality.

And he's black too.

I just can't shoot him.

And with this in mind, and plus

my religious beliefs too,

which is the legal reason

I'm not going,

I just can't go over there

and shoot them people...

and come back home

I'm still a n*gger.

It has been said that

I have two alternatives...

either go to jail

or go to the army.

But I would like to say that

there is another alternative.

And that alternative

is justice.

I came to work

for Justice Harlan...

in the summer of 1970,

which during the term

I was there...

that the Vietnam Veterans

Against the War...

sat in on the steps

of the Supreme Court.

No!

There was controversy...

just surrounding

every corner of life.

Black Power!

Ship all n*ggers back!

It was during that year that

Clay against United States...

came up to the Supreme Court.

The justices probably

thought Ali wouldn't win.

He could argue about it,

but he had a fair shot below...

when reasonable judges

had said no.

And he didn't present

any unique or unusual issues,

and so they were just gonna

let the case go away.

As they were about to announce,

the solicitor general

came in and said...

we just learned that there

was an illegal wiretap...

during which the F.B.I. overheard Muhammad

Ali talking to Reverend Martin Luther King.

We are all victims of the

same system of oppression.

And even though we may have

different religious beliefs,

this does not at all bring about a

difference in terms of our concerns.

We're still brothers.

So they just did

what was routine in those days.

We're sending this back down

to the trial judge...

to determine whether

anything needs to be done.

I didn't think it would take so long...

three and a half years...

but I did think

he would be back.

And he was always doing

something interesting.

He was in a Broadway show,

Big Time Buck White.

- - It was

wonderful and terrible.

You know, I first came here

some 400 long years ago.

Yes. Right on,

Big Time.

- I came as a first-class passenger...

- Yes!

on a cold, nasty, muddy,

wet prison of death.

- Yes! Yes!

- A slave ship.

We came in chains

Yeah!

- We came in misery

- Uh-huh.

Now all our suffering and

pains are part of history

Right on!

- We came in chains

- Oh, yes!

Do you feel in a way that

you're not really acting up there?

No, I'm not acting at all.

I'm real.

We may have a little music

in the background,

but everything that I do,

I look at it as being real.

Chains, chains, chains

We came in chains

Four hundred years

No justice No

freedom No equality

Worked from sunup

to sundown

1970, still in chains

Financial chains

Economical chains

Chains, chains, chains

America chains

Chains Look at these chains

Chains

Chains

Meanwhile,

a group of Atlanta blacks and whites...

managed to get Clay a license

and bring the fight to Atlanta.

No other city has done this.

We put Mr. Clay, Muhammad Ali,

back into the ring.

I don't see how

this fight could take place...

anywhere in the United States

of America...

by a man that has denounced

his country's uniform...

and refused to be inducted.

There are

no state laws in Georgia...

covering the boxing industry.

We have secured from the city of

Atlanta the boxing permit, the license.

We've covered everything.

Muhammad Ali,

or Cassius Clay, or both...

will return to the boxing ring

in Atlanta, Georgia.

Governor Maddox

does not like it.

But he can't stop it.

I've called for a day of

mourning because of this,

that this tragic thing has happened

in this United States of America...

where men have fought so long and their

wives and children have sacrificed so much.

But there are a lot of

people who feel as Governor Maddox does.

But Clay has his license

and will fight.

Your greatest trial

may not be in the ring.

It may be

with the American public,

most of whom deeply resent your stance

with regard to military induction.

Because Ali was

such a visible public figure,

Justice Brennan thought we just

can't let a case like this go...

without explaining why.

So we caught the case

on the bounce back.

The Supreme Court agreed today to review

heavyweight fighter Muhammad Ali's conviction...

for refusing induction

into the army.

Ali claims he cannot be drafted

for religious reasons,

and now the high court

will decide whether he's right.

Is your client a pacifist?

A pacifist is, uh... is...

is, uh, strict language.

A pacifist means, um...

uh, a Quaker,

one who does not engage

in any kind of violence.

It would hardly classify him

as a pacifist.

Of course there's

this incredible irony...

that you have this big, powerful

heavyweight champion of the world...

saying he's

a conscientious objector.

Justice Thurgood Marshall

recused himself from the case.

He was largely removing himself

from any case...

where the N.A.A.C.P.

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