This has been a week of vacation for me, the first in quite some time. I am happy to say that I did not get a single call from work, so I believe things must have gone smoothly while I was out of the office. This vacation was the most restful one I have had in recent memory, but also was a time of contemplation - both of my personal life and of the times we in which we are currently living. And I spent some time contemplating the past as well, and thinking of the days and years ahead. This vacation was not full of "fun" events, although I did do a few fun things, but it was a vacation in which I took quite a bit of time to reflect on life, the world, wrong versus right, the "silent majority" and its irrelevance, and my own "rights" and "wrongs" (as I see these) as well. I even thought about Muhammad Ali the "Greatest," and about Cassius Clay, the "draft dodger." And I thought about a brief but profound experience I had in a small West Texas town shortly after the terrible events of September 11, 2001. What a range of random thought!
One of the first random thoughts I had (besides Thank God It's Friday and my vacation has just officially started) was that of sorrow and sympathy for Muhammad Ali's family as the nation learned that Ali had passed away. He was immediately honored by hundreds of journalists across America, and also just immediately DISHONORED by many other journalists, bloggers, and users of Internet-based "social media" because he was a "draft dodger" and had refused to fight for America in South Vietnam.
This national discussion about Muhammad Ali took me back in time to my elementary school years, oh so long ago! But I remembered that my fourth grade teacher, an older lady, was an avid fan of a boxer named Cassius Clay. This was in the early 1970's and a boxer named Muhammad Ali had taken the boxing world by storm! But my teacher explained that Muhammad Ali "was really" Cassius Clay, one of the most famous American "draft dodgers" of all time. My teacher did not make it clear exactly how this draft dodger could box in the United States and not get arrested. Not only that, but my teacher did not really seem to care that he was a draft dodger because she was so impressed with his boxing ability. She did explain to me that "Cassius Clay" had been an Olympic gold medalist for the United States prior to his professional career and his run-in with the Houston Draft Board. And, for the next forty-something years, right up to the day Muhammad Ali left this life, I had always thought of him as "really being" Cassius Clay, the "draft dodger." I wonder how many millions of Americans were also of this mistaken impression? I wonder even MORE why I never did my own research to learn more about "The Greatest" American boxer of all time. For this error in judgment, I apologize to Ali's family and his memory.
Friday afternoon (June 3rd) after I left work, I happened to open Facebook, and of course it was full of expressions of sorrow and sympathy for Muhammad Ali's family, and full of reminisces of Ali's many victories in the boxing ring. But the impromptu Facebook memorial of Ali was dotted with comments from people calling Ali a draft dodger and calling Americans who served in Vietnam the real heroes of Ali's time. I am not disputing the fact that many Americans served their country honorably during the Vietnam era and that there were many draft dodgers as well, but something about Muhammad Ali's persona, his character, caused me to wonder if I really believed he was a "draft dodger," this man who was not afraid to face anyone, even Joe Frasier, in the boxing ring. So, as they say, I did some "fact-checking." Here is what I learned after only a few minutes of research.
This article belongs to the Houston Chronicle, which created the article from compiled files...I am using this article only on the "fair use" basis and take no credit for this article or its contents whatsoever:
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/48-years-ago-today-Muhammad-Ali-refused-the-5435356.php
The Houston Chronicle article (based on original news stories) concerning Muhammad Ali, using his own statements and the information from various legal dockets, makes it clear that Ali was not a draft "dodger" in any sense of that word. He did not participate in civil disorder across the nation when at this time many young men burned their draft cards (and many sought safe haven in Canada) nor did he make any attempt to hide from the police or courts. Instead, he walked like a man into court where he was tried and convicted of refusing to be inducted at the local draft board center in Houston, Texas. Ali was fined $10,000 and sentenced to five years in prison. His lawyers immediately filed an appeal that, after several years, eventually made it to the United States Supreme Court. At that highest venue, the Justices OVERTURNED his conviction, citing his THREE attempts to have his draft status changed to that of conscientious objector, which the military denied all three times. The Supreme Court further ruled that the military was vague in their reasoning as to exactly WHY Muhammad Ali could not serve his country in the status of conscientious objector.
Unfortunately (but not surprisingly) Ali was stripped of his 1967 heavyweight title and also lost his boxing license, meaning that he could not participate in boxing events in the United States. It is quite possible that Muhammad Ali lost several million dollars in potential winnings during this time. But Ali stuck to his principles as a man, a Black man, and as a practicing Muslim. Ali himself explained his reasoning and his principles in the story below. Again, this is a copyrighted article to which I claim absolutely NO credit whatever, but claim fair usage only:
http://alphahistory.com/vietnamwar/muhammad-ali-refuses-to-fight-1967/
Muhammad Ali had converted to the Muslim religion in the mid-1960's and therefore was opposed to serving as a soldier in the Vietnam War (oops...I meant "police action" or "conflict"), and given the status of Black people in America at the time, there was little wonder that Ali believed this way. But more than that, he was willing to not only go to jail for his beliefs, but even to lose millions of dollars in the process. I am not saying here that I agree with Muhammad Ali in everything he said and believed, but I am stating here my opinion and belief that Ali was in fact NOT a draft dodger. He never fled the United States, nor did he make any effort to elude "justice" by hiding with friends or relatives somewhere in the rural South or in the faceless anonymity of the large cities in the North or East. I believe that because Muhammad Ali was no longer allowed to box in the United States, he was suddenly out of the public view, and this perhaps led to the "draft dodger" status that haunted him right up to the day he died. But Muhammad Ali did not dodge the draft; instead, he FACED IT HEAD ON, and he refused to be forced to fight in what he believed to be a racial war. In fact, Ali was exonerated by the Supreme Court of the United States. If Muhammad Ali had the fortitude to do this, then I will have the fortitude to say here that I was one of the many people calling him a draft dodger, and now I am one of what I hope will be a growing number of people who know - and will admit openly - that Muhammad Ali was not a draft dodger. In fact, he was brave enough to stand and point out that the Vietnam "Conflict" was not a "just war" when compared to, for instance, World War II, where nations stood together to defeat the Third Reich.
One of Muhammad Ali's rather valid points about the "draft" was that the burden for fighting the Vietnam "Conflict" fell mostly on poor, uneducated people, and of that group a disproportionate number were Black men. This point is borne out when we look at just a couple of famous persons, some who currently spout patriotism and "God and Country" ad nauseam, but who were in fact "draft dodgers." And this is, by the way, only a small, small, small sample of those who "legally" dodged the draft.
Donald Trump - yes, that's right. He is one of the foremost dodgers of the Vietnam era. Mr. Trump claimed college deferment during his college career. But after college, and while still in danger of being drafted, Donald Trump got a permanent medical exemption. His feet were supposedly not up to spec for draft purposes, but this was only determined in a SECOND visit to the doctor. Not able to serve in the actual combat services, neither did Trump even suggest he might serve our nation as a "conscientious objector."
Rush Limbaugh - a most patriotic American. Nonetheless Rush Limbaugh took as many student deferments as he could while in college. After graduation Limbaugh got permanent exemption from the draft after doctors determined that he was subject to anal cysts. No, I am not joking! Again, Rush made no attempt to serve the nation in a non-combative role during the Vietnam era.
Bill Clinton - since he served two terms as President of the United States, obviously his draft-dodging ways did not hurt him politically. But Bill made a rather sneaky deal to get out of the draft circle by agreeing to serve a certain amount of time in the ROTC. Although Clinton did "join" the ROTC, he did not complete his committal with that organization. As soon as he was "exempted" from further draft "danger" he never darkened the doors of his local ROTC chapter again.
George W. Bush - legally dodged the draft by joining the Air Force Reserve. Bush II actually flew a couple "missions" with the Air Force Reserve, but there is quite a bit of controversy (missing records, mainly) as to whether Bush completed his service commitments.
Dick Cheney - in my opinion the worst and most hypocritical draft dodger in all of American History! Cheney received a total of five draft deferments, four because he was a student, and the permanent one because he was a father. So what, Dick! Many soldiers of that time were fathers, some never living to see their unborn children.
What is so utterly disgusting and hypocritical about Cheney is that he was SO WILLING to sacrifice American men and women in the endless and pointless fighting in the Middle East after September 11, but he himself could just never quite get up the nerve to enlist during the Vietnam "Conflict." In the later Middle East wars, Cheney and others of his ilk never came up with winning game plans as far as securing victory, or even decent ceasefires and truces. Not only was Cheney so willing to sacrifice young Americans in Libya, Iraq, Kuwait, and maybe other hot spots as well, he was willing to oversee the killing of millions of non-combatant citizens of nations with whom we were not even legally at war! Oh I know President Bush I and II were operating under the "War Powers Act" but that "Act" allowed only a limited time to accomplish specific objectives. Now, in 2016, we are still "at war" and Cheney still has never put himself or any of his loved ones in harm's way, but he expects our brave men and women to expend themselves daily in an undeclared war that has no end in sight. Even after TWO Obama "Administrations" our men and women are still fighting and dying in the Middle East. But Dick Cheney sits comfortably on the boards of several super-corporations...and again, never will he enter harm's way in the service of this nation.
So, I learned that Muhammad Ali, whatever else he was or was not, was certainly not a draft dodger, while so many of our "leaders" were in fact draft dodgers who should have gone to trial just as Ali did. Incidentally, isn't it ironic that draft dodger Cheney has now thrown his support behind draft dodger Donald Trump in the upcoming election. Honor and heroism do indeed belong to Muhammad Ali, and not to ANY of the men mentioned above. No, Muhammad Ali did not fight in Vietnam, but he fought a very important battle at home, and in so doing, he demonstrated what the "silent majority" (of which I am a life-long member) were NOT WILLING to do. We, and our fathers before us, were not willing to stand up and call the Vietnam War an illegal act, nor were we willing to refuse to sacrifice our children in this undeclared and illegal war, and (literally) not to mention the MILLIONS of natives of these lands that were killed at the whim of our leaders. Granted, I was a child in the Vietnam era, but in both the Gulf Wars and the ongoing occupations of those faraway lands that continues to this very hour, I have dutifully "held my peace." I have watched this slaughter go on for well over two decades and basically SAID NOTHING or DID NOTHING to call out our "leaders" to answer for these crimes. Muhammad Ali would not, and did not, hesitate to do this very thing.
So Muhammad Ali, in whatever way your faith has taught you, I say to you go now and rest in peace, your work here on earth is done.
One of the first random thoughts I had (besides Thank God It's Friday and my vacation has just officially started) was that of sorrow and sympathy for Muhammad Ali's family as the nation learned that Ali had passed away. He was immediately honored by hundreds of journalists across America, and also just immediately DISHONORED by many other journalists, bloggers, and users of Internet-based "social media" because he was a "draft dodger" and had refused to fight for America in South Vietnam.
This national discussion about Muhammad Ali took me back in time to my elementary school years, oh so long ago! But I remembered that my fourth grade teacher, an older lady, was an avid fan of a boxer named Cassius Clay. This was in the early 1970's and a boxer named Muhammad Ali had taken the boxing world by storm! But my teacher explained that Muhammad Ali "was really" Cassius Clay, one of the most famous American "draft dodgers" of all time. My teacher did not make it clear exactly how this draft dodger could box in the United States and not get arrested. Not only that, but my teacher did not really seem to care that he was a draft dodger because she was so impressed with his boxing ability. She did explain to me that "Cassius Clay" had been an Olympic gold medalist for the United States prior to his professional career and his run-in with the Houston Draft Board. And, for the next forty-something years, right up to the day Muhammad Ali left this life, I had always thought of him as "really being" Cassius Clay, the "draft dodger." I wonder how many millions of Americans were also of this mistaken impression? I wonder even MORE why I never did my own research to learn more about "The Greatest" American boxer of all time. For this error in judgment, I apologize to Ali's family and his memory.
Friday afternoon (June 3rd) after I left work, I happened to open Facebook, and of course it was full of expressions of sorrow and sympathy for Muhammad Ali's family, and full of reminisces of Ali's many victories in the boxing ring. But the impromptu Facebook memorial of Ali was dotted with comments from people calling Ali a draft dodger and calling Americans who served in Vietnam the real heroes of Ali's time. I am not disputing the fact that many Americans served their country honorably during the Vietnam era and that there were many draft dodgers as well, but something about Muhammad Ali's persona, his character, caused me to wonder if I really believed he was a "draft dodger," this man who was not afraid to face anyone, even Joe Frasier, in the boxing ring. So, as they say, I did some "fact-checking." Here is what I learned after only a few minutes of research.
This article belongs to the Houston Chronicle, which created the article from compiled files...I am using this article only on the "fair use" basis and take no credit for this article or its contents whatsoever:
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/48-years-ago-today-Muhammad-Ali-refused-the-5435356.php
The Houston Chronicle article (based on original news stories) concerning Muhammad Ali, using his own statements and the information from various legal dockets, makes it clear that Ali was not a draft "dodger" in any sense of that word. He did not participate in civil disorder across the nation when at this time many young men burned their draft cards (and many sought safe haven in Canada) nor did he make any attempt to hide from the police or courts. Instead, he walked like a man into court where he was tried and convicted of refusing to be inducted at the local draft board center in Houston, Texas. Ali was fined $10,000 and sentenced to five years in prison. His lawyers immediately filed an appeal that, after several years, eventually made it to the United States Supreme Court. At that highest venue, the Justices OVERTURNED his conviction, citing his THREE attempts to have his draft status changed to that of conscientious objector, which the military denied all three times. The Supreme Court further ruled that the military was vague in their reasoning as to exactly WHY Muhammad Ali could not serve his country in the status of conscientious objector.
Unfortunately (but not surprisingly) Ali was stripped of his 1967 heavyweight title and also lost his boxing license, meaning that he could not participate in boxing events in the United States. It is quite possible that Muhammad Ali lost several million dollars in potential winnings during this time. But Ali stuck to his principles as a man, a Black man, and as a practicing Muslim. Ali himself explained his reasoning and his principles in the story below. Again, this is a copyrighted article to which I claim absolutely NO credit whatever, but claim fair usage only:
http://alphahistory.com/vietnamwar/muhammad-ali-refuses-to-fight-1967/
Muhammad Ali had converted to the Muslim religion in the mid-1960's and therefore was opposed to serving as a soldier in the Vietnam War (oops...I meant "police action" or "conflict"), and given the status of Black people in America at the time, there was little wonder that Ali believed this way. But more than that, he was willing to not only go to jail for his beliefs, but even to lose millions of dollars in the process. I am not saying here that I agree with Muhammad Ali in everything he said and believed, but I am stating here my opinion and belief that Ali was in fact NOT a draft dodger. He never fled the United States, nor did he make any effort to elude "justice" by hiding with friends or relatives somewhere in the rural South or in the faceless anonymity of the large cities in the North or East. I believe that because Muhammad Ali was no longer allowed to box in the United States, he was suddenly out of the public view, and this perhaps led to the "draft dodger" status that haunted him right up to the day he died. But Muhammad Ali did not dodge the draft; instead, he FACED IT HEAD ON, and he refused to be forced to fight in what he believed to be a racial war. In fact, Ali was exonerated by the Supreme Court of the United States. If Muhammad Ali had the fortitude to do this, then I will have the fortitude to say here that I was one of the many people calling him a draft dodger, and now I am one of what I hope will be a growing number of people who know - and will admit openly - that Muhammad Ali was not a draft dodger. In fact, he was brave enough to stand and point out that the Vietnam "Conflict" was not a "just war" when compared to, for instance, World War II, where nations stood together to defeat the Third Reich.
One of Muhammad Ali's rather valid points about the "draft" was that the burden for fighting the Vietnam "Conflict" fell mostly on poor, uneducated people, and of that group a disproportionate number were Black men. This point is borne out when we look at just a couple of famous persons, some who currently spout patriotism and "God and Country" ad nauseam, but who were in fact "draft dodgers." And this is, by the way, only a small, small, small sample of those who "legally" dodged the draft.
Donald Trump - yes, that's right. He is one of the foremost dodgers of the Vietnam era. Mr. Trump claimed college deferment during his college career. But after college, and while still in danger of being drafted, Donald Trump got a permanent medical exemption. His feet were supposedly not up to spec for draft purposes, but this was only determined in a SECOND visit to the doctor. Not able to serve in the actual combat services, neither did Trump even suggest he might serve our nation as a "conscientious objector."
Rush Limbaugh - a most patriotic American. Nonetheless Rush Limbaugh took as many student deferments as he could while in college. After graduation Limbaugh got permanent exemption from the draft after doctors determined that he was subject to anal cysts. No, I am not joking! Again, Rush made no attempt to serve the nation in a non-combative role during the Vietnam era.
Bill Clinton - since he served two terms as President of the United States, obviously his draft-dodging ways did not hurt him politically. But Bill made a rather sneaky deal to get out of the draft circle by agreeing to serve a certain amount of time in the ROTC. Although Clinton did "join" the ROTC, he did not complete his committal with that organization. As soon as he was "exempted" from further draft "danger" he never darkened the doors of his local ROTC chapter again.
George W. Bush - legally dodged the draft by joining the Air Force Reserve. Bush II actually flew a couple "missions" with the Air Force Reserve, but there is quite a bit of controversy (missing records, mainly) as to whether Bush completed his service commitments.
Dick Cheney - in my opinion the worst and most hypocritical draft dodger in all of American History! Cheney received a total of five draft deferments, four because he was a student, and the permanent one because he was a father. So what, Dick! Many soldiers of that time were fathers, some never living to see their unborn children.
What is so utterly disgusting and hypocritical about Cheney is that he was SO WILLING to sacrifice American men and women in the endless and pointless fighting in the Middle East after September 11, but he himself could just never quite get up the nerve to enlist during the Vietnam "Conflict." In the later Middle East wars, Cheney and others of his ilk never came up with winning game plans as far as securing victory, or even decent ceasefires and truces. Not only was Cheney so willing to sacrifice young Americans in Libya, Iraq, Kuwait, and maybe other hot spots as well, he was willing to oversee the killing of millions of non-combatant citizens of nations with whom we were not even legally at war! Oh I know President Bush I and II were operating under the "War Powers Act" but that "Act" allowed only a limited time to accomplish specific objectives. Now, in 2016, we are still "at war" and Cheney still has never put himself or any of his loved ones in harm's way, but he expects our brave men and women to expend themselves daily in an undeclared war that has no end in sight. Even after TWO Obama "Administrations" our men and women are still fighting and dying in the Middle East. But Dick Cheney sits comfortably on the boards of several super-corporations...and again, never will he enter harm's way in the service of this nation.
So, I learned that Muhammad Ali, whatever else he was or was not, was certainly not a draft dodger, while so many of our "leaders" were in fact draft dodgers who should have gone to trial just as Ali did. Incidentally, isn't it ironic that draft dodger Cheney has now thrown his support behind draft dodger Donald Trump in the upcoming election. Honor and heroism do indeed belong to Muhammad Ali, and not to ANY of the men mentioned above. No, Muhammad Ali did not fight in Vietnam, but he fought a very important battle at home, and in so doing, he demonstrated what the "silent majority" (of which I am a life-long member) were NOT WILLING to do. We, and our fathers before us, were not willing to stand up and call the Vietnam War an illegal act, nor were we willing to refuse to sacrifice our children in this undeclared and illegal war, and (literally) not to mention the MILLIONS of natives of these lands that were killed at the whim of our leaders. Granted, I was a child in the Vietnam era, but in both the Gulf Wars and the ongoing occupations of those faraway lands that continues to this very hour, I have dutifully "held my peace." I have watched this slaughter go on for well over two decades and basically SAID NOTHING or DID NOTHING to call out our "leaders" to answer for these crimes. Muhammad Ali would not, and did not, hesitate to do this very thing.
So Muhammad Ali, in whatever way your faith has taught you, I say to you go now and rest in peace, your work here on earth is done.
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