celeflo - Tumblr blog

celeflo · 7 months

Photo

*:･ﾟ✧

706 notes · View notes

celeflo · 7 months

Text

28K notes · View notes

celeflo · 7 months

Photo

844K notes · View notes

celeflo · 7 months

Note

wait sorry, what does muhammad ali have to do with drafting? /genq

I assume you're referring to my addition on this post? All right!

Well first, famed (and to many, infamous) boxer Muhammad Ali wasn't technically a draft dodger. He was a Conscientious Objector on the grounds of his religion (he was in the Nation of Islam at the time). They just didn't accept his objection.

But Muhammad Ali was very, very known for being confident and outspoken in his beliefs and in himself. And the main political reason he gave for not wanting to go to war was that he "had no quarrel with the Vietcong". He was arrested in 1967 for refusing to go, and White America swore he was a coward, an uppity n*gger, and every foul word in the book (for being unwilling to entertain and/or die for them).

Essentially, he recognized and pointed out that to go to war with Vietnam, war with other people of color, for a country that refused to respect his own people's basic civil and human rights was stupid. He has no issues with Vietnam. He had issues at home! If he went to war and died, he'd be dying for furthering the interests of Western Imperialism and white supremacy via a genocide. If he went to war and committed said genocide, lived and returned, he'd return to the very same white people who sent him to fight treating him like he was subhuman.

It happens in every war; Revolutionary War, Civil War, World War I, World War II. To this day, we are learning of and pushing contributions of Black soldiers and platoons that got ZERO credit in comparison to their white counterparts. Silently sent to the back in history, treated like garbage upon their return, and expected to risk their lives for a country that hates them.

Why would anyone want to fight for that? Why would I want to commit a genocide? Why would I risk my life to commit violence the world over for a country that hates me and disenfranchises my people?

Anyway, so he was arrested and convicted for refusing to go to Vietnam, his boxing titles stripped, (also deadnamed! For they refused to call him his chosen name of Muhammad Ali, but Cassius Clay!) and again, white america had nothing but vitriolic hate for this man. But he stood on it, and eventually the conviction was overturned.

Also, because he was willing to say what needed to be said as a famous face to the world, his words had an effect worldwide. Y'all know how y'all want your celebs to say something? He did! And he risked it and lost it all! So that's why I brought up Muhammad Ali. Famous Black man who wasn't just a boxer and entertainer, but an activist who did the right damn thing in the moment, and will be remembered by history as doing such.

Happy Black History Month, and Free Palestine!

3K notes · View notes

celeflo · 8 months

Photo