Quote:
Originally Posted by fintstone
I think you would have been correct in the late 50's and early 60's...but, by Jan '67 that was long gone. Clay was already rich and famous and lived quite well. No one asked him to kill innocent people. In fact, no one asked any more of him than any other American who served....white, black, Hispanic, Asian, native American, etc. Most did not want to go either...but, they did.
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Saying that racism was long gone in 1967 is not only factually incorrect, its flat out crazy. Martin Luther King was assassinated in 68. No sane Black person would ever make such a statement. The United States was extremely segregated and incredibly racist during that time. This was
partly why Ali did not want to serve in the war. He felt he would be killing innocent Vietnamese people only to return home to see himself and others of his ethnicity being treated as second class citizens. Last in line in the states but the front of the line in the battlefield, was an old saying you probably never heard....