For decades, going back even before he ceremoniously lit the torch to the Atlanta Olympics 20 years ago, we have been revising the Muhammad Ali story.
Not so much with respect to Ali himself.
He deserved most of the accolades, though I don't recall anyone contemporaneously -- except Ali himself, of course -- crediting him as the greatest fighter of all time. There were the Sugar Rays -- Leonard and Robinson, the undefeated Marciano, Joe Louis, Jack Dempsey and now there's Floyd Mayweather, Jr. Many at the time thought Joe Frazier was the greater heavyweight, particularly after he knocked down and defeated Ali.
The real revisionism is about Ali the Beloved, America's sweetheart of the boxing world, who stood up against injustice to widespread applause.
In fact, Muhammad Ali was reviled by much of white America during his boxing career. Social conservatives, especially here in the South, hated everything about him. To them he was an "uppity nigger" who pointedly championed civil rights, eschewed Christianity, defied authority, opposed the Vietnam war and bragged about himself ceaselessly.
Vulnerable and Nonthreatening
Only since Ali became vulnerable and nonthreatening has all of America embraced him. More importantly, the dawning recognition that he was right about everything has created a collective amnesia about all those who opposed him with every fiber of their being.
It's easy to say now that Ali was the good guy: America was treating blacks unfairly, as his own life demonstrated. Authority was wrong about the Vietnam war, a waste of 58,000 American lives. Athletes can be flamboyant and still lovable. And Ali was the prettiest, and if not the greatest, certainly among the greats.
Injustice, Hypocrisy and Hatred
But in the 60s and 70s, these were highly inflammable issues. In style, tone and message Ali was the anti-Christ, challenging norms everywhere he went. Successful black Americans at the time acted like Booker T. Washington, not like Stokely Carmichael. Remember, Jackie Robinson had to absorb all the abuse without comment in order to break into the Majors successfully.
It's great to celebrate the life and career of Muhammad Ali, and it's heartening that ultimately the good guys won these cultural skirmishes. But let's not let America off the hook so easily. Ali is great because he ran counter to type and paid a heavy price for soldiering on against the injustice, hate and hypocrisy that dominated America not so long ago.
