![]() Harlan returned to the Court the next day and, convinced of Ali’s sincerity after reading the text, switched sides. The justices began drafting their opinions when one of Justice John Marshall Harlan II’s clerks convinced him to take home Elijah Muhammad’s Message to the Blackman in America. The Justice Department challenged that status, citing his statements that he would fight the Vietcong in a “holy war” if they fought Muslims. That left eight justices, who on a first vote sided with the Justice Department in a 5-3 decision.Īli claimed he qualified for conscientious-objector status because he opposed the war as a black Muslim. Justice Thurgood Marshall recused himself because he had been solicitor general when Ali was prosecuted. ![]() Supreme Court for the final time in 1971, liberal stalwart Justice William Brennan convinced his colleagues to hear the case. And in the three years he didn’t fight, Ali became a prominent speaker at college campuses across the U.S., as the anti-war movement grew in strength, silencing those who told him to participate with his compelling arguments: Still, Ali’s continued refusal to go to Vietnam-despite repeated pressure-coincided with the war’s growing unpopularity in the U.S. Number one, I have gained a peace of mind. “And the tragedy to me is, Cassius has made millions of dollars off of the American public, and now he’s not willing to show his appreciation to a country that’s giving him, in my view, a fantastic opportunity.”Īli, though, didn’t see it that way: “I would like to say to those of the press and those of the people who think that I lost so much by not taking this step, I would like to say that I did not lose a thing up until this very moment, I haven’t lost one thing,” he said. “He’s hurting, I think, the morale of a lot of young Negro soldiers over in Vietnam,” Robinson said. Nor was Susskind the only man, nor whites alone in opposing Ali’s actions: Jackie Robinson, the first black man to play in the major leagues, said Ali’s stand was hurting African Americans who were, unlike him, fighting in Vietnam. He will inevitably go to prison, as well he should. He is a convicted felon in the United States. He’s a disgrace to his country, his race, and what he laughingly describes as his profession. I find nothing amusing or interesting or tolerable about this man. Ali instantly became a national pariah-perhaps the most hated man in the country, as can be evinced in this monologue from David Susskind, the American television host, who was addressing Ali: (The link itself is worth following for Susskind’s obvious antipathy toward the man on the television screen.) The Vietnam War was popular at the time in the U.S., and the sight of a man, especially a black man, who not only refused to serve-but did so eloquently-incensed the sporting, media, and political establishments. The remarks and actions were even more controversial than the former Cassius Clay’s conversion to Islam in 1964. Ali was unable to obtain a boxing license in the U.S. His license to box was suspended in New York the same day, and his title stripped other boxing commissions followed. His refusal led to Ali’s arrest and eventual conviction-though he stayed out of prison while his case was appealed. He repeatedly refused to step forward when his name was called-despite being warned by an officer that he was committing a felony offense that was punishable by five years in prison and a fine of $10,000. … Shoot them for what? How can I shoot them poor people? Just take me to jail.”Ī little more than a year later, on April 28, 1967, Ali, then 25 years old, appeared in Houston for his scheduled induction into the U.S. “And shoot them for what? They never called me nigger, they never lynched me, they didn’t put no dogs on me, they didn’t rob me of my nationality, rape and kill my mother and father. “My conscience won’t let me go shoot my brother, or some darker people, or some poor hungry people in the mud for big powerful America,” he said at the time. On March 9, 1966, at the height of the war, Ali’s draft status was revised to make him eligible to fight in Vietnam, leading him to say that as a black Muslim he was a conscientious objector, and would not enter the U.S. “His biggest win came not in the ring but in our courts in his fight for his beliefs,” Eric Holder, the former U.S. Muhammad Ali’s stand against the Vietnam War transcended not only the ring, which he had dominated as the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, but also the realms of faith and politics.
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