"You HAD to be there"
If you were young; above the age of 10 when Eisenhower took office in 1953; and, a Black Child in America, You HAD to know that something "special" was happening among us. We grew up on Joe Louis; Jackie Robinson had "integrated" Baseball; and "we" had even defeated Hitler's Heavyweight -- Schmeling!
In my Hometown, C.C. Hubbard, the Icon for Education of Black Children in West-Central Missouri, had died in 1947, and our White Superintendent replaced him with a Black Professor from Georgia, who thought he was King over the Blacks. He ran the school like a Dictator, and insisted that Blacks who came to his house had to use his Back-Door, Black Students walked out on Strike and stayed out until the A-Hole was driven out of town. We then moved to sit-ins against the Segregation of our Movie Theaters. The Civil Rights Movement, among Black Youth, really began in the USA, in the 1950s!
Cassius Clay grew up in that environment. We thought he would be the next Joe Louis! Obviously he thought so, too. This significant change spread slowly, nation-wide, among Black Youth; and led to the sit-ins we first saw on T.V. in the 1960s. White versions of the Civil Rights Movement do not reveal this part. This happened during a ten-year period, when Black Youth still "owned" Rock and Roll!
The willingness to stand up; against White Dictates, and pay the price for that; is what is essential in the story, and the life, of Muhammad Ali! As the Movement toward Integration advanced, White Media, and other White Institutions were able to turn too many Blacks away from Leaders like Thurgood Marshall, and toward "Accommodat-ors", so prevalent today; like Clarence Thomas, Condi Rice, Ben Carson, and a raft of other Black "Conservatives"!
Stay Vigilant! Ali no longer walks among us! Today is the day of his "Home-Going".
May we all find better ways to break the "grip" that Racism still holds over Black Minds; and, within the Dominant Mind-Set of our Nation!
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