34
MUHAMMAD ALI SAYS “NO”
TO THE MILITARY DRAFT
TO THE MILITARY DRAFT
Man, I ain't got no quarrel with them Vietcong.
— Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali (b. 1942) could have made It into this book for a dozen reasons but his willing-
ness to risk all he fought so hard to attain is perhaps his greatest legacy… and the most
commonly ignored episode of his long, storied life.
“Ali has been absorbed by the establishment as a legend — a harmless icon,” says Dave Zirin.
“There is barely a trace left of the controversial truth: There has never been an athlete more
reviled by the mainstream press, more persecuted by the U.S. government or more defiantly
beloved throughout the world than Muhammad Ali.”
The battles with Sonny Liston, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, and Ken Norton remain part of his
legend. His rhyming speech, shuffling feet, rope-a-dope, and his eventual decline and rebirth as
a sanitized hero — these are common knowledge. Speeches like this have been erased from the
public record:
ness to risk all he fought so hard to attain is perhaps his greatest legacy… and the most
commonly ignored episode of his long, storied life.
“Ali has been absorbed by the establishment as a legend — a harmless icon,” says Dave Zirin.
“There is barely a trace left of the controversial truth: There has never been an athlete more
reviled by the mainstream press, more persecuted by the U.S. government or more defiantly
beloved throughout the world than Muhammad Ali.”
The battles with Sonny Liston, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, and Ken Norton remain part of his
legend. His rhyming speech, shuffling feet, rope-a-dope, and his eventual decline and rebirth as
a sanitized hero — these are common knowledge. Speeches like this have been erased from the
public record:
Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and
drop bombs and bullets on Brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people
in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights? No I'm not
drop bombs and bullets on Brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people
in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights? No I'm not
95
… YOU'RE NOT
SUPPOSED TO KNOW
SUPPOSED TO KNOW