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10 Greatest Speeches


Muhammad Ali 23 August 1966,


Louisville, Tennessee


What was the big deal? It was the biggest bout of Muhammad Ali’s career and won him supporters and enemies in equal measure. Called up to fi ght in the Vietnam war, Ali refused to go and was stripped of his title and had his boxing licence revoked. Ali’s battle against the draſt lasted several years and took him all the way to the Supreme


Court where he eventually won his case. His stance made Ali one of the public faces of the anti- Vietnam war movement and he spoke at universities across the US highlighting the issue. His logic for not going to Vietnam was simple: “Why should they ask me to put on a uniform


and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights? No, I am not going 10,000 miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over.”


Impact rating: 8/10


myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fi ghting for their own justice, freedom and equality.


T e real enemy of my people is right here. I will not disgrace my religion, my people or


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