Muhammad Ali is not only one of the greatest boxers of all-time, but his activism in social justice issues was highly visible during the post civil rights era with the wealth and fame he accumulated.
The legend shook the media at the time when he decided he did not want to go to war in Vietnam stating that the natives of that land never called him the derogatory N-Word. Ali went on to speak at colleges and universities during the time that his boxing license was taken away, even delivering his famous “Black is Best” speech a Howard University.
Muhammad Ali Jr, the only son of the icon, has told the world that he believes his father would not approve of Black Lives Matter. It is interesting because Muhammad Ali was once a member of the Nation of Islam that Farrakhan now leads. He always stated he was a student of Elijah Muhammad who helped to give him the Muhammad Ali name. He was known as Cassius Clay before joining Nation of Islam.
As Malcolm X would do, Ali would change to traditional Islam later in life. Muhammad Ali’s son stated that if Ali was alive he would declare Black Lives Matter “devils” in an interview with New York Post.
‘‘Black Lives Matter is not a peaceful protest. Antifa never wanted it peaceful. I would take them all out… My father would have said, ‘They ain’t nothing but devils.’ My father said, ‘All lives matter.’ I don’t think he’d agree,” Ali Jr. told the New York Post. He then said Black Lives Matter is “racist” and “terrorists”, saying, “It’s not just black lives matter, white lives matter, Chinese lives matter, all lives matter, everybody’s life matters. God loves everyone — he never singled anyone out. Killing is wrong no matter who it is.”
“Police don’t wake up and think, ‘I’m going to kill a n—-r today or kill a white man,’” Ali Jr. added. “They’re just trying to make it back home to their family in one piece… The officer was wrong with killing [George Floyd], but people don’t realize there was more footage than what they showed. The guy resisted arrest, the officer was doing his job, but he used the wrong tactic.”
While he speaks on behalf of his father, Muhammad Ali Jr. admitted that during the last decade of his father’s life, their relationship “completely fell apart.” Muhammad Ali passed away in 2016.
