Muhammad Ali: “It’s Nature to Want to be With Your Own”

The following video from 1971 is a fitting memorial to the late American boxer Muhammad Ali. In it you’ll see him vigorously disagree with a BBC interviewer who is obviously a promoter of métissage.

If Mr. Ali had been white, of course, he would have been excoriated, humbled, and run out of town on a rail. Only a member of a fashionable minority could get away with expressing such blasphemous ideas, then and now.

It’s a reminder of what an intelligent, witty, and appealing young man he was:

Requiescat in pace, Cassius Clay.

Hat tip: Green Infidel.

33 thoughts on “Muhammad Ali: “It’s Nature to Want to be With Your Own”

  1. “It’s a reminder of what an intelligent, witty, and appealing young man he was”

    Hard to completely agree. He was a tremendous athlete and he could rap before there was such a thing as rap. Witty and appealing, yes; intelligent, perhaps not so much. He was as uniformed about how Islam regards blacks as any western black person who converts to Islam. Perhaps he converted to avoid the draft as opposed to the afro-centrism many blacks are trying to express by converting to Islam, we will never really know. If so, perhaps that was a mark of intelligence.

    • He converted before the draft issue came up, iirc.

      I remember watching those interviews with him all through the mid to late sixties. He always impressed me with his native intelligence. Not education or knowledge, but intelligence. It was a great shame that boxing scrambled his brains.

      • He converted to Islam in 1965. He refused to be inducted in 1967. Perhaps his embrace of Islam was heartfelt but his understanding of Islam was a mark of ignorance.

        I agree, it was a shame for him to lose his health due to boxing.

    • Maybe it’s possible that he was as uninformed about Islam as most converts are – and as, likely, a vast majority of our western societies?

      It’s especially difficult for me to understand those who convert because their ancestors were taken as slaves by whites, so converting is something that “liberates” them – yet delivers them into a religion whose most devout adherents in the Arab Gulf had been taking black slaves for the past 1300 years, and in fact were still doing it in the decade that Muhammad Ali had said the Shahada? See here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QgKZR2W96JE

      Now the bigger question imo – why are facts like this not commonly known, and only left for people to find while randomly searching for videos on youtube?

      • It’s important to remember that Cassius Clay converted to the Nation of Islam, a.k.a. the “Black Muslims”, and not to Islam as such.

        NoI was an irregular form of Islam, and still is, although I believe there are people trying to bring it into line with standard Sunni practice. I’m told that it holds some peculiar beliefs, ones that might get it denounced as a blasphemous sect if it weren’t so strategically important to the Ummah at large, providing as it does ready-made shock troops for Islam all over America in the heart of its major cities.

        The Nation of Islam is a black separatist movement, and believes that the races should live apart from one another. Hence Mr. Ali’s position in this video.

        Louis Farrakhan, the current leader of NoI, has met with (I believe) David Duke. The two men found themselves in basic agreement. Their only major difference is who they want to win the Race War.

        • A very important point and one I had sort of lost sight of. NoI, The Black American Bow-Tie version of Islam probably does much to obscure the nature of the Abeed , choosing rather to emphasize the ‘stick-it-to whitey’ side of Islam in Black America.

          • NoI is its own form of Islam. Theoretically Sunni, but not standard in its practices (or at least it used to be like that — I don’t know if it still is). It was founded by Elijah Muhammad, and if I recall correctly, he picked up his Islam more from reading texts than from other Islamic authorities. In other words, NoI lacked a good portion of the “transmission belt” that normally serves to export the traditions and practices to new Islamic colonies. I think that’s what made Muslims in Jeddah and Cairo look somewhat askance on it.

            All of the above is from memory; I haven’t researched the Nation of Islam in more than ten years, so I may have some of this wrong.

          • Baron – I meant that I once read he had become a “mainstream” Sunni Muslim, some years after converting to the NoI. This was years back though, so can’t be sure.

            Agreed NoI and mainstream Sunnis differ greatly.

        • I was going to write the same thing as in your first paragraph: Cassius Clay, following the charismatic, sincere and exceptionally intelligent Malcolm Little, ie X, joined the extremely eccentric “religion” called the Nation of Islam, which was (widely regarded to have been) founded by and then run with an iron rod by the “Honourable Elijah Mohammed” who preached that white people were devils and all manner of Scientology-type nonsense. The supreme irony is that the Nation of Islam was founded in Detroit by a New Zealander called Wallace Fard who may have had some fractional Maori antecedents, but was categorized as “White” in that era. It is plain from the verifiable records that Fard was a charlatan and crank who preyed on poor black people. It is regrettable, but forgivable that the otherwise intelligent Clay fell for the spiel of the Nation of Islam.

          I had hoped that, at some point after the Nation of Islam assassinated his friend and mentor Malcolm X, our boxing legend would have reverted to his original name.

          I don’t know whether it’s sadder for the general public or for his father that this great athlete, spokesman and character didn’t retain his fine birth name. Whether it is firmly rooted in fact or not, the plaintive protest in the film “Ali” of Cassius Marcellus Clay Snr (played by Giancarlo Esposito) over his son abandoning his surname is extremely poignant and moving. My money on is Mr Clay Snr being exceptionally hurt and disappointed.

          • I always found it ironic that he dropped his given name of Cassius Clay, a person he was named after who historically was a noted abolitionist in Kentucky, and adopted instead the name of the noted Egyptian slaver Mohammed Ali, who historically is famous for enslaving the Sudan. A great boxer, but not one of the great thinkers of all time.

      • Green Infidel

        “It’s especially difficult for me to understand those who convert because their ancestors were taken as slaves by whites, so converting is something that “liberates” them – yet delivers them into a religion whose most devout adherents in the Arab Gulf had been taking black slaves for the past 1300 years, and in fact were still doing it in the decade that Muhammad Ali had said the Shahada?”

        You and me both. I read Malcolm X’s autobiography 35 years ago and I’m still utterly flummoxed as to how he (and Ali) could stomach Islam. Then again, we have “Queers for Palestine”. I personally know both lesbians and male homosexuals who are ardent supporters of the Palestinian cause and virulent Israel haters. And these are intelligent tertiary-educated (not that that means much these days) people. The closest and most accurate analogy would be “Jews for Hitler”.

        Your final question is most pertinent and puzzling: why indeed are the unarguable facts of the deep and venerable Islamic involvement in the enslavement of black Africans not more widely known and understood? Even the Darfour mass murder, mass rape, episode (for lack of a better word), which is ongoing, doesn’t seem to shake the received PC wisdom.

    • “uninformed,” you mean. I would suggest he was purposely misinformed, hence the falling-out with Elijah Muhammad.

    • No it ain’t. What he says in this interview is despicable. Parkinson’s singular comeback that it’s a “philosophy of despair” is the one intelligent thing in here. 50 years later, Ali has been proven wrong by innumerable mixed-race couples with happy families in America who don’t give a **** what they’re “supposed” to do, who they’re supposed to be with. Your wife likes puerto rican music, great. It’s a shame he was warped by the time he lived in, and had to shout so loudly that he loved his own people, because no one loved them, and that’s true. But he was wrong.

      • And would children of such families not suffer any confusion as to their culture and identity? Unless one parent (likely the woman) submits to the identity of the other parent, of course.

        • I know of a family, the father is pure Sicilian. The mother dark skinned black from Jamaica, though 1/4 Scottish. She has no accent due to some hard work and was educated in Texas – and has some very entertaining stories about that experience – like the time she was the only person of color in a roadhouse at the end of a dirt road. In short, the cowboys enjoyed dancing with her and the toothless crack whore assured her that she ‘had her back’. She said it was a fun night. Their young daughter proudly describes herself as Brown and isn’t confused about her ethnicity at all.

          I’m no rainbow warrior, but in this day and age almost everybody is the result of more than one single ethnicity, and the best approach is to be proud of every part of your origins.

    • It is simply impossible for somebody with Ali’s flair for creative language, spontaneous rhetorical and debating skills to have had an IQ of 79. Such an IQ would place him dumber than two standard deviations from the norm and thus into the dumbest 2.2% of humanity.

  2. A brilliant exchange where he runs rings around verbally that elite English interviewer Michael Parkinson. You may not agree with all he said but boy is it hard to beat him in a fight or an argument.

  3. It is worth noting that, going by his skin colour and his features, Ali was himself a product of metissage (which I see translates as miscegenation). And yet he identified wholly with the black side of his genetic inheritance. Why? There was clearly a lot more involved than genes and race.

    As to why Black Americans convert to Islam it is strange isn’t it? Anyone who has looked into the subject knows that the Muslim history of black slavery is far worse than the white one. Not only that but converting to Islam means becoming a slave once more, a slave to Allah…or so he says. You almost wonder if there is some sort of nostalgia thing going on.

    • To your first paragraph, either that is a rhetorical question or you are not living in the U.S. In America even light skinned blacks who are obviously of mixed race self identify, and are identified by society as black. Much like our half-black president. There is a great stigma among blacks for acting white, that is where the term ‘wannabe’ comes from – want to be white. In fact this stigma is what keeps many black school kids from trying to do their best to achieve good grades, not wanting to be called wannbes. It needs to go away, but the vestiges of black culture in America are one of the greatest factors still holding black people back. If you’ve never interrupted two black people speaking to one another in ebonics and had them switch to the king’s English at the point you joined in you may have never experienced this.

      To your second paragraph, I can only agree.

  4. I’m biased, I admit it at the outset: I have never had any interest in boxing as a sport but I respect those who think differently. A huge loss to his family and his loved ones, of course.

    I never particularly liked the man, I found him too arrogant; achievement (in whatever field) and arrogance don’t necessarily have to go together.

    A great athlete, yes. A great man? Mmmmhh…
    As for his conversion to the religion of peace and changing his name… Another mmmmh.
    It wasn’t only boxing that scrambled his brains.

  5. I remember the early media appearances, and recall being disturbed, thinking this is not a good thing. Cultural marxism was already in effect though, as any criticism was shouted down by willing sycophants. Outwardly insulting, aggressive, erratic and bizarre behavior had to be tolerated, by any and all. A quick look at present day Chicago (or any other major city) and you’ll see his stewardship and influence everywhere.

  6. It is refreshing to hear from someone who is not ashamed of his race and is willing to say so.

  7. He was a remarkable American, in the truest sense of the word, idiosyncratic, keenly individualistic yet fiercely loyal to his origins, creative and articulate and competitive, and always truthful, saying forthrightly what he thought and believed.

    His commitment to Islam likely was based in the background of his having been, and having witnessed, unChrist-like behavior on the part of Christians towards himself and others, and yes, it was sustained by deliberately ignoring how Islamic cultures, overall, historically have been appalling in the just treatment of central African peoples.

    As for his not accepting the draft, itself a disputable injustice promoted by aspiring omnipotent governments of the Modern state, especially in the context of J.B. Johnson’s ‘war’, that might arguably have been a badge of honor.

    Yes, many honorable citizens served in that war bravely according to their conscience. But when some refused to do so, and not out of cowardice but due to well-founded reasons, such was not a dishonor to either those who did or to the principles on which this Republic stands.

    R.I.P.

  8. I am still waiting to see what kind of epitaph Schlussel writes for Ali. I can’t believe she will remain silent on his death. Since she hates almost everyone who isn’t Schlussel and is known for writing her ‘Rest in Hell’ epitaphs, this will be interesting.

  9. He is right. Mixing races is not a good idea. It reflects badly on children as well. At one stage they have to choose and it is a difficult decision.
    Many marriages are failing because people forget that a marriage is a union of the families, not only the individuals. As more the people have in common, as more likely the marriage will be a success even if you don’t like your in-laws. Cannot imagine marrying a woman outside my race (white), religion (though not religious), or background.
    As for Mr. Ali, he was a great athlete. I don’t understand why people want him to be anything else. Even Einstein was quite naive in many things outside physics. Let’s remember him as a great athlete, the rest is unimportant.

  10. Well, this white Brit (who once saw Ali, at a distance) believes he confuses “race” and culture. I’ve had a couple of black girlfriends, one from Grenada, another from New York; both were sufficiently “westernised” (?!?) that we had enough in common to get along- any problems were down to personality differences, and no doubt partly my fault.

    Relationship No 1 was in 1970 (a year before this interview), when I was 22, young, new to London, and having been brought up to believe that if people were “different” (black, Jewish, whatever) this was just something interesting about them. I was shocked at the negative reactions of some white colleagues and acquaintances.

    With No 2 in 1986, most people had moved on (and I was working for a US company with many American colleagues).

    Ali was of course entitled to his standpoint, especially then, but we should move on.

    I understand he was always a gentleman (with a good sense of humour), and salute him.

    • My parents were a mixed marriage (both white, but from different cultures). And I can relate a bit to what Muhammad Ali was saying in the video about conflicts. There often were some – although I’m also happy I could become part of 2 different cultures.

      That said, these conflicts were a drop in the ocean, compared to a few mixed marriages I knew of involving the Religion of Peace…

      Yes – mixed marriage can be good for the genes and becoming a more “worldly” person, but they can also degenerate into a big fight, and leave the kids confused as to which culture they belong to.

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