Thinking about Lives Lived--The Greatest of All Time?
Who Are We: Did He Show Us Greatness?
In remembering Muhammad Ali, born Cassius Clay in 1942, (two years after my mother was born) in the early era of World War II, I cannot help but think that Jack Johnson still has not received his due as an American, perhaps more importantly, an African-American athlete and pioneer.For all the accolades that Ali has and will receive for his many feats as an athlete and humanitarian activist, Jack Johnson lived almost two generations ahead of him in the United States; I cannot see Cassius arriving to where he did if it were not for the historic earlier American pugilist Jack Johnson. While Johnson was maligned and denigrated for being black long before Jesse Owens and Jackie Robinson, and arguably Johnson had many character flaws that were unflattering, he helped break down so many color barriers, he was arguably the best, proving a black man, an African-American, even deserved to be in the conversation as a human being who could compare to whites, despite deranged so-called scientifically progressive Darwinists arguing there was a superiority among humans of different hues.
Don't get me wrong, Muhammad Ali was great, always will be. He proved the credo of Martin Luther King, Jr: we should be judged on the merits of our character (and achievements). For this Ali certainly was great, even as a simple person being true to his own conscience.
I read a tribute shortly after his death a couple days ago that earlier in his career as a boxer Muhammad Ali fought a guy who caught him with a left hook and almost knocked him out in the fourth round. That was known as the "split gloves fight" because Ali's manager argued to the referee that Muhammad's boxing glove had a tear in it and needed to be replaced, and even though the referee refused, it bought Ali valuable recovery time and Ali went on to win. Muhammad, or Cassius then, I guess, comically said, " He hit me so hard my ancestors felt it back in Africa."
And in a few ways, Clay was fighting for his African-American people and for the ancestors from whom they hailed in Africa.
Which brings me to a greater historical point:
Much of the experiment of the United States of America is to figure out what and who we are, what is our shared humanity. Is it only male white Anglo-Saxon Protestants? No, obviously not. Kennedy proved that Catholics clearly belong, too. Abraham Lincoln and Harriet Tubman and a horde of others made their mark for and behalf of blacks who were mostly slaves. Many women, famously Susan B. Anthony and countless others; but it has taken a long time for blacks to feel equal. One might debate that the struggle continues in the 21st century with the treatment of blacks by law enforcement. But other minorities have had their decades of struggle for equality or a voice to be heard. Latinos, Chinese, Filipinos, Vietnamese as well. Jews and Mormons and Muslims, we have all felt a struggle to be a part of the "melting pot", a place at the table.
So we credit Mohammad Ali for breaking a lot of barriers. Perhaps he was "the Greatest", as he claims. But there is a nagging reminder of one who broke down some amazing barriers before him.
Don't forget Jack Johnson. He got there first in many ways, as a boxer, as a minority, as a black man too often not allowed to compete in the American or world arena. He set up a world where Cassius Clay could arrive.
In the end, everyone has his and her own fight, so we all fight and strive for what we believe we deserve. American, Mexican, Irish, Macedonian, Korean, Congolese. Collectively and individually, we all are making our own way through the rings of the next match. Floating and stinging, crashing and mending from our wounds. And moving on. Progressing with our own fights in our own respective lives, on the shoulders of giants, these all-time bigger than life greats.
We, too, can be the greatest. Thanks, champs, for your legacies that I and millions of others will not forget.
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