Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go ten thousand miles from
home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam while
so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied
simple human rights?
No, I am not going ten thousand miles from home to help murder and
burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white
slave masters of the darker people the world over. This is the day when
such evils must come to an end. I have been warned that to take such a
stand would put my prestige in jeopardy and could cause me to lose
millions of dollars which should accrue to me as the champion.
But I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of
my people is right here. I will not disgrace my religion, my people or
myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their
own justice, freedom and equality…
If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22
million of my people they wouldn’t have to draft me, I’d join tomorrow.
But I either have to obey the laws of the land or the laws of Allah. I
have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I’ll go to jail.
We’ve been in jail for four hundred years.
—Muhammad Ali