Would Ali have acted as Louis Did?

It would be a somewhat diferent situation because Vietnam was a war where you might conclude that the USA should simply not get involved while that wasnt an option in world war II.

 

Yes, Elijah Muhammed who was the new leader of the Nation Of Islam ,during WWII, served 3 or 4 years in federal prison for refusing WWII military service & encouraging his members to do so also.(If you need proof I can find you a few more names ,but there were certainly Black conscientious objectors during WWII)

Elijah Muhammed was not the personality of Malcom X whom had joined the NOI when its membership was only around 500 & ,but Malcolm X grew its membership to over 30,000:yikes If ALI had fallen under the spell of Elijah(Malcolm X was unkown in '42) & his very ,very small cult I believe he would have objected also ,but his career would not have been as successful as when he refused a very unpopular Vietnam war as opposed to WWII.

Ali's quote that "The Viet-Cong ,never called me no N***er" was straight from the NOI.
But sans the NOI/Malcolm X I can see ALI agreeing especially if it mainly consisted of boxing exhibitions & USO type PR stuff. His 'racial awareness' was low until he came acrosss Malcolm X/NOI.

But as Magoo has stated these are two completely different eras/ different men /different experiences & impossible to tell how each would have reacted, but under the influence of Elijah I believe he would have objected.

 

A. The USA was already involved to some extent before Pearl Harbour.

B. After Pearl Harbour there was no way out except through.

C. It was probably delusional for the USA to think that they could stay detached from full engagment for as long as they did.

 

I doubt the nation would have been taken as seriously then as it was in the 60s with more media coverage and also an orator as charismatic and strong as Malcolm X, so Ali may not have been as open to the teachings in that time

 

A lot of Hitlers propoganda was aimed at blacks and their perceived inferiority to the Aryan race, "scientific" evidence was used to support their closer relationship to apes

 

You know a lot about Hitler, Jear..Whats your feelings on Jews?

 

How is that obvious? It seems a perfectly logical stance to me. Going to war is the biggest sarcifice you can do for your country, and it of course becomes less urgent making that sacrifice if the country in question don't treat you as an equal.

 

Its not as simple as that mate..Its not as though he just didnt go just because he had never met a Vietnamese person who had called him a n igger.

Obviously he was making a stand against the overall situation that African Americans were facing at the time..He didnt base his decision solely on whether or not the Vietcong had been racist towards him personally, which is what that statement literally implies. And I was taking it in a literal sense jokingly to apply it to the World War II situation faced by Louis.

As egotisical as Ali could be..I dont truly believe he based that decision solely on the fact he had never been personally insulted by the Vietcong, do you? :huh

 

Haha, thought it was common knowledge. Maybe as a former British colony we studied WWII a bit deeper in school

 

That's a VERY literal way of taking it. As for Ali's reasons, I truly don't know, and neither do you. It was probably a combination of several different reasons, but we can only speculate.

Anyhow, I think the simple statement "No Viet Cong ever called me n*gger" makes a lot of sense. I find it fully reasonable that Ali didn't want to go to a war that he didn't see any sense in, on behalf of a government and state that he mistrusted.

 

I find it very probable myself.Of course ,if Hitler had beaten the allies in Europe ,and won in the east he would have eventually turned his attention to the States ,and so America would have had to fight him sooner or later,but they sure wern't going looking for a scrap.

 

This sums it up. If black muslims wanted Ali to join the army, Ali would have done that in the 1960's.

Having said that, Louis seemed to have more pride for his nation by a country mile. Louis did speak out on racial issues, and race in sports, but he did it in a non-outspoken way.

 

If Pearl Harbor never happened, sooner or later we would have become involved, and in a much worse way, as Hitler would have gobbled up Britain and the U.S.S.R. by then. Pearl Harbor was a timely wake-up call. As for Ali, well any Black man with a brain was aware what the Nazi/Japanese alternative was.