The Complete Muhammed Ali by Ishmael Reed

Author:Ishmael Reed
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-77186-047-5
Publisher: Baraka Books
Published: 2015-06-22T04:00:00+00:00

We understand that he [Ali] has been requested to make public service announcements supporting America’s war on terrorism. Would this be a more dramatic ending: the people’s champ who fought against oppression, finally broken down to a servant of the oppressor… the tragic truth is that Ali is a member of Warith Deen Muhammad’s sect that was known for flag waving before 9/11. Warith had rejected the teachings of his father, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, in favor of orthodox Islam, dismissing the Black Nationalism of Elijah for Americanism, so it is not whack for President Bush to call upon Ali to be the “voice of America” to the Muslim world, nor for Ali to accept. If indeed, our hero has been co-opted, let us be mature enough to realize humans are not made of stone and we know in real life people change, not always for the good—thus the danger of hero worship and thus the Islamic dictum: nothing deserves to be worshipped except Allah.

In 1998, I received a three-year grant from the Lila Wallace Foundation, which required me to accompany adults who were learning English at Oakland’s Second Start Literacy Program to the theater. In the course of three years, I saw a number of plays and musicals, many of which were overrated, and quite a number of which were insulting to minorities, like “Miss Saigon” and “Rent” and the most reprehensible of all, “Stonewall’s House,” a play that tried to clean up the Confederate insurgents’ reputation and which argued that blacks were better off in slavery, and that because of political correctness, white male playwrights were oppressed. In other words, plays by blacks dominate the Great White Way. The play that I found the most compelling was produced by the Black Repertory Theater in Oakland. It was called “A Day in the Life,” and it was written by Marvin X. Like some of the other black revolutionaries of that period, Marvin X turned to drugs after the disillusionment set in, and the revolution was busted, partially due to a sinister COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Program) operation. Some of the more vibrant, charismatic, and militant of the activists were permitted to morph into non-threatening positions as college professors, where they still engage in correcting those whom they feel are not revolutionary enough. All one has to do is contrast the swell-headed, boastful play “Big Time Buck White,” in which Muhammad Ali starred, with “A Day In The Life” to determine the corrosion of the sixties optimism and the pessimism of the current political climate.

Black nationalists and those on the black left have been among President Obama’s harshest critics, while black support for the president has remained in the ninety percent range. Cornel West, whom white progressives were agitating for a run in a primary against the president, referred to the president as “a black mascot for Wall Street,” which makes you wonder why Wall Street backed his opponent, Mitt Romney. Marvin X has called the president “a black hangman.” The

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