"Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion." ~Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali moved me to tears of sorrow and joy. Back in the sixties, Ali made me feel like someone was listening and speaking the secrets of my heart and soul…

https://youtu.be/S788gj9vdp0?list=RDGMEM3vRVvLY6rn_98uxOr5tY5A
Elmore James – The Sky Is Crying

“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion.”

~Muhammad Ali

https://youtu.be/sQQ_vl47CGc?list=RDsQQ_vl47CGc
BB King – I Believe To My Soul – Live in Africa 1974

“It was Muhammad Ali who first described the Vietnam-era draft as “white people sending black people to fight yellow people to protect the country they stole from the red people.” He said no to the draft, refused to step forward to accept the legitimacy of the coerced registration, and was convicted of felony draft resistance. Even though he faced years in prison, he insisted, “Man, I ain’t got no quarrel with them Vietcong.”

Racism

“What’s perhaps less well known, but absolutely consistent with this man of extraordinary principle, is Ali’s 1974 statement in Beirut. That year, Ali visited refugee camps filled with Palestinians dispossessed of their homes in the 1947-1948 Nakba, or “catastrophe” — the war that attended the founding of the state of Israel. After visiting the camps, Ali announced, “I declare support for the Palestinian struggle to liberate their homeland.”

https://youtu.be/mq6BZ4ofd54
Muhammad Ali performs “We Came in Chains” on The Ed Sullivan Show

RACISM IS a moral obscenity, but how can we fight it?
That depends on how we understand the problem.

https://youtu.be/C_fCOLlYC58
Tribute to Muhammad Ali on his favorite song Child Of The Wilderness

“Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn’t matter which color does the hating. It’s just plain wrong.”
― Muhammad Ali

“I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality… I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.”
―Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Ignorance and prejudice are the handmaidens of propaganda. Our mission, therefore, is to confront ignorance with knowledge, bigotry with tolerance, and isolation with the outstretched hand of generosity. Racism can, will, and must be defeated.”
― Kofi Annan

“It demands great spiritual resilience not to hate the hater whose foot is on your neck, and an even greater miracle of perception and charity not to teach your child to hate.”
― James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time

“Not least, Ali’s initial resistance to the draft led to his being excluded from professional boxing for years. Yet the boxer and the anti-war and anti-racism movements he was a part of continued their work. And Ali’s own presence, principles, and influence was such that in later years the tributes poured in — including his memorable lighting of the Olympic flame at the otherwise corporate-controlled, ultra-establishment 1996 Atlanta games.

“Race doesn’t really exist for you because it has never been a barrier. Black folks don’t have that choice.”
― Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Americanah

Wracked with the tremors of advanced Parkinson’s disease, he held the torch high and stood tall — somehow with more grace, dignity, and power than any of that year’s athletes.

“I swear to the Lord
I still can’t see
Why Democracy means
Everybody but me.”
― Langston Hughes, The Black Man Speaks

His incandescent presence that night made undeniably clear, once again, that the movements against war and racism that Ali so eloquently spoke for — and that he remained such an elemental and principled part of — had already succeeded in transforming public discourse, if not yet public policy, across the United States.

https://youtu.be/WVBC1b2sHMg

See Muhammad Ali At His Final Public Appearance

Footnote:
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/06/09/muhammad-ali-understood-racist-roots-war-and-militarism

Muhammad Ali blazed a trail…

Here is “Eyes on the Prize” referenced above:

https://youtu.be/p1xlIrfjxCw?t=127
Eyes on the Prize 1:52:53

Here are more clips revealing a great man.

https://youtu.be/bI-O40Hcnj8
1960: Muhammad Ali Reveals Why He Started Boxing

https://youtu.be/XOhvupjhS3U
Heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali with civil rights leader Martin Luther King

https://youtu.be/J8ZWZzt0bkQ
Muhammad Ali – Wake Up And Apologize (1972)

https://youtu.be/uxrHEGNu6o4?t=465
Sly Stone and Muhammad Ali on The Mike Douglas Show (1974)

https://youtu.be/hxuqSzE2mB0
Muhammad Ali Gives His Stance On The Vietnam War | The Dick Cavett Show

https://youtu.be/ualYTMmgj28
Muhammad Ali’s Focus on Racial Justice |

https://youtu.be/1hXF-ule0pw
Muhammad Ali And Howard Cossel Interview

https://youtu.be/ZWZOBX1vE7A?t=100
Muhammad Ali -“This is your Life”

Born: January 17, 1942, Louisville, KY
Died: June 3, 2016 (age 74 years), Scottsdale, AZ
Children: Muhammad Ali Jr., Laila Ali, Maryum Ali,
Rasheda Ali, Asaad Amin, Hana Ali, Khaliah Ali, Jamillah Ali, Miya Ali
Spouse: Lonnie Ali (m. 1986–2016),
Education: Central High School (1958)
Parents: Odessa Grady Clay, Cassius Marcellus Clay Sr.
Weight: 236 lbs