“I AM America! I am the part you won’t recognize. But get used to me—black, confident, cocky; my name, not yours; my religion, not yours; my goals, my own. Get used to me.”

In an increasingly fractured world, Muhammad Ali’s message of diversity, equality and tolerance has great significance. In this renewed age of McCarthyism where judgement is passed not on one’s worth but on perceived patriotism; where speaking out against injustice in a beloved land is branded anti national; where nationalism has become the fig leaf for fundamentalism; where questioning values leads to one being branded unpatriotic; a time of division where diversity is treated with suspicion and stereotyping is the norm; where stress on conformity and submission dangles like the Sword of Damocles above the necks of those who dare; in a world of demagogues who misuse religious text to mislead their sheep like followers; in such a world Mohammad Ali’s message of inclusion and pride in his principles, values and faith stands tall like the man himself.

“War is against the teachings of the holy Quran.”

Muhammad Ali transcended the boxing ring because in life too he battled to expose the hypocrisy inherent in being asked to fight against the Vietnamese. The apostle of peace asked point blank: “How can I shoot them poor people? Just take me to jail.” For his anti-war stance, Ali faced censure, bans and financial loss in his prime with elan, putting to shame the multimillion dollar endorsements sought out by tainted sportspersons with greed for lucre and no moral compass. But then today’s sportspersons are water colours to Ali’s oil, chalk to charcoal, flute to drums, gazpacho to hot and sour soup, crow to nightingale, Nero to Ataturk, pygmy to giant, are they not?

I know where I’m going and I know the truth, and I don’t have to be what you want me to be. I’m free to be what I want.”

Ali was that unknown quantity, a graceful boxer who balanced his muscles and height with a ballerina’s poise and rhythm. The vociferous chants of “Aali, Aali, Aali”, the fist pumping, the adrenaline-infused jumping on the feet provided the background canvas of the Champ’s matches and he reveled in his aura. Larger than life, he claimed, “I’m so fast, man, I can run through a hurricane and don’t get wet” and we believed him, embracing the brash and brilliant athlete. Indeed, we not only accepted him as one of our own no matter which corner of the world we came from, but we brought him into our living rooms and made him part of our family. Which is why the news of his mighty heart falling silent has hit home.

Death and the Champ seem to be strange bedfellows. Muhammad Ali pummeled his disease for thirty years, even managing to light the Olympic torch in Atlanta for the 1996 Olympic Games, albeit with a shivering hand. Through sheer force of will and grit, he held aloft the Olympic torch to acclaim. It was a bravura performance, but it was illustrative of the valour of the Champ who had floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee. Now locked in another great fight, Ali looked the world in the eye even as his once invincible frame shook like a leaf.

“The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.”

A man may be great but to admit one’s mistakes, that too in the public arena, that takes real courage. In 2004, Ali wrote that the leader of the Nation of Islam Elijah Muhammad had taught him to see white Americans as blue-eyed devils but it was “Malcolm X who was the first to discover the truth, that colour doesn’t make a man a devil. It is the heart, soul and mind that define a person. Malcolm X was a great thinker and an even greater friend. I might never have become a Muslim if it hadn’t been for Malcolm. If I could go back and do it all over again, I would never have turned my back on him.”

“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth.”

Muhammad Ali not only redefined his generation, he redefined what it meant to be American. It is easy to forget how blacks were segregated in the America of Ali’s youth. Ali was not willing to settle for being a second grade citizen, history be damned. He fought for the right to dignity for all and befittingly saw in his lifetime an African American elected to the highest office in the land, the President of the United States of America.

“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. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”

We are privileged to have lived in the era of the Sportsman of the Century.What a warrior. What a braveheart. What an inspiration.

Thanks for the memories, Champ. You are the greatest.

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2016