Muhammad Ali, Olympic gold medalist and three-time heavyweight-boxing champion, stormed the American landscape when, as a young Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr., he defeated national favourite Sonny Liston to become the heavyweight champion of the world at age 22.
Herman Heaton Clay, a descendant of African-American slaves, decided to name his son Cassius Marcellus Clay who was born nine years after the death of Cassius Marcellus Clay (October 19, 1810 – July 22, 1903), in tribute to the great slave trade abolitionist.
While Ali was beaten in the ring and shunned in public for his outspoken rhetoric and politics, Cassius Marcellus Clay, the 18th century abolitionist and politician, was attacked, beaten, stabbed and shot several times for his anti-slavery activism.
Cassius Clay Sr. (Ali’s father) gave his own son the same name, Cassius M. Clay Jr., a heavyweight champion boxer who gained international renown. Couple of months after defeating Sonny Liston for the world heavyweight crown; he joined the Nation of Islam. Cassius Clay Jr., will then change his name to Muhammad Ali, after a series of events in the organization.
22 year old Ali became a heavyweight champion at a period when blacks in America were facing their worst crisis since the abolition of the slavery. Despite the presence of black civil right movement icons like Martin Luther King Jnr., Malcom X, Elijah Muhammad e.t.c, Ali instantly established himself as the voice of the struggling and impoverished African Americans in the face of white segregation and brutality. During these periods, Ali was their voice, spoke their language, and propagate their frustrations to the rest of the world.
In order to demonstrate his newfound conversion to the Nation of Islam and friendship with Malcolm X in February of 1964, Cassius Clay announced that he was revoking his “slave” surname and dubbed himself “Cassius X.” However, the “X” phase in his name was short-lived because within months he was given a new name that we all know today.
When Malcolm X controversially left the Nation of Islam, Cassius X wanted a new name to demonstrate his deep commitment to the faith and his choice to follow the Honorable Elijah Muhammad rather than Malcolm X. In March of 1964, “Cassius X”, for the last time changed his name to “Muhammad Ali,” and what follows is scorn from white newspapers, praises from the Muslim world and confusion from of many black Americans.
Wearing the Yoruba brown and white striped Agbada costume, Ali is greeted by a crowd of youngsters on a trip to Nigeria, on June 1, 1964.
For many people, Ali was more than athlete. Ali’s persona was unique in such a way that he was able to combine his prowess in the ring as well as those on the microphone, delivering dope speeches to the ever hungry media.
The Ali story at that time has become a movement with followers all over the globe.
Another African American that would have fit into Ali’s mould was Tupac Amaru Shakur. Tupac also came into the scene when blacks in America were faced with an uphill battle against drugs, violence, police brutality, mass incarceration, and family breakdown.
At 22, both Ali and Tupac, at the height of their careers, were rebellious, strong and passionate communicators. At that age, Tupac, due to his vocal criticism against institutionalized racism and his immense popularity, was receiving calls from blacks in American prisons asking him to lead their struggle. Ali is the more sophisticated of the two by virtue of his poise, eloquence and the sheer ability to transcend race, class and religious barriers. Tupac, without taking any credit away from him, alienated some segment of the African American populace with his expletive-laden speeches, his lifestyle, and his political movement which was then labelled Thug Life.
Despite all the accomplishments of the great Pele in global football (Soccer), he has done little or none at all, in using his global influence to combat racism against blacks in his native Brazil. While Ali forfeited his fame, world title and brilliant career, to voice his opposition to the Vietnam War, Pele in his lifetime was not ready to challenge the status quo in his country.
By this time Ali’s body has been laid to rest, his incredible humanitarian nature, inspiration for the activism of athletes all over the world and his legacy on race, class and religion will forever remained with us.
Ali is the numero uno of all black heroes.
A beacon of hope to the under-privileged.
He was Black and Pretty before James Brown sang Black and Proud.
” Services to others is the rent you paid for your room on Earth.”
– Muhammad Ali
Now you tell me who is the true, global black hero?
Adieu The Greatest.
