Oh how the ideological left love their anti white separatist racists.

I respect the fact that Ali softened in his attitudes with age and you could always tell that there was decency within him but he never apologised for all the racist crap he spoke and that was never ok in my book.

Great boxer, and condolences to those who actually cared about him, but personally....once I found out about Ali outside of boxing. I never looked at him as a role model.

Edited by Stirlingsays (04 Jun 2016 12.36pm)

'Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.' (Leslie Nielsen)

Well said. Mourn him as an incredible athlete but questionable person,particularly when he was younger. Strange how death can gloss over peoples faults.

Oh how the ideological left love their anti white separatist racists.

I respect the fact that Ali softened in his attitudes with age and you could always tell that there was decency within him but he never apologised for all the racist crap he spoke and that was never ok in my book.

Great boxer, and condolences to those who actually cared about him, but personally....once I found out about Ali outside of boxing. I never looked at him as a role model.

Edited by Stirlingsays (04 Jun 2016 12.36pm)

I agree with your first sentence but let us balance that by remembering that he was a man who was treated as a second class citizen in his own country, even after winning a gold medal at the Olympics.

He was a young man influenced by Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam and said things that were racist in the heated climate of a racist America. I would suggest that any man will say and do things in is lesser moments that he might regret later on. I would judge him for his best moments rather than his worst as we would all like for ourselves.
I would not want people to hijack his memory to make some trite, inappropriate political point on the day of his death.

A great eulogy from author Alan Gibbons...

So the giant has passed. I don't think we can exaggerate the importance of Muhammad Ali. I think he is quite simply the greatest sporting figure of all time, fusing sport, grace, humour, rebellion, dignity and politics. When he entered the stage, the dead hand of Jim Crow still gripped the throat of America. Ali himself was denied entry to a restaurant even after he had won a boxing gold medal in the Olympics. People talk with universal fondness of him now, but when he first came to Britain, most people hated him for being a 'lippy' black man. When no white heavyweight could deck him, the racists willed a safe black guy to do it as a proxy for slapping down the uppity ni**er. Frazier was a good guy and no 'uncle Tom', but when he beat Ali, the racists were jubilant. I remember getting ribbed by some lads at school. I was gutted because my hero had fallen. Imagine how wonderful it was when he came back, after the Vietnam ban, after the racist insults, after everything to defeat George Foreman in the greatest boxing match of all time, the Rumble in the Jungle. Three times champion, freedom fighter, spokesman for black America, Muslim and spokesman against terrorism, humanitarian, Ali bomaye.

Political points? No, just showing he acted on his principles. He lost the title by refusing to go to Vietnam.

[Link]

RIP Champ. (Anyone remember this? )

Pro USA & Israel