Cassius Clay, Politics, Religion

As you know, I do not wax upon the things of politic - I simply do not care about the subject nor the desires of political parties one way or the other.  The end of politics is always the same: man is corrupt all of his system will only be more corrupt across time.  But ...

My grandfather, John, was a heavyweight boxer.  He was not a big man but he had stood up to the best, had his brains beat out of his head and lived.  Others facing the likes of Max Baer did not fare so well. 
And he taught me to box, though my hand structure is completely wrong and he made sure I understood that if I hit someone straight on - that was the end of that hand and wrist!  Yeah, piano or violin fingers they are called.

So Cassius Clay was someone I watched through the media and respected as a fighter.  When he refused to enlist for the military, it caused quite the ruckus in the early 1960's!  I can remember my father was absolutely livid that anyone could say "NO" to the demands of their country.  You have to remember, he was a NAZI - the state is the supreme being and you will comply!

But, I was born without prejudice nor a desire to kill anyone, by some natural or unnatural means I understood that human life was precious and war was wrong.  Yeah, my father was livid with me quite a bit as well.  And I was unshakable, in spite of the beatings, the government was not the final authority.  And Clay came along, I listened to his words in the news and thought on them.  Something was wrong in this world, but I was too young to fully understand the corruption behind politics nor the history of black America.

While in prison, Clay converted to Islam, changed his name and upon release was not widely accepted by anyone!  He was a disgrace after-all.  But, he was one a heck of a fighter!

Less than a decade later, it was my turn to be drafted.  In the mail came a heavily wax like substance impregnated card telling me that the President of the United States was ordering me to report to such and such place, and time.  Only problem was, I was 17, not 18, and I knew it was not a valid draft document.  For fun I tried lighting it on fire - it would not burn.  I tried to chop it up with a knife or scissors, even an axe - it would not cut.  I tried boiling it - but it remained unchanged.  I tossed it in the garbage.


When I turned 18, I did go and register for the selective service and wrote boldly on the form that I only did so only under duress and would only consider military service as a medic or similar orderly - I would carry NO firearms what-so-ever.  They even had a brochure on how to resist the draft in the recruiters office, I picked one up.

The recruiter was livid.
My father was livid.
Yeah, not a good day a whole lot of livid was going on!

I thought often of Clay and his fight against the military industrial complex, corrupt politicians and the bias in the USA for war - at any cost, for any excuse, against anyone.
But, I was a no one.  I had not won any Olympic Medals.  I had no fame for anything I had done.  No foreign reporters wanted my story.

And for the next three years I fought that illegal attempt to bring me into the US Army.  It was only through their arrogance that they lost the battle finally before an honest judge - the story is in one of these blogs.

Clay had been an inspiration to me.  Someone whom was willing to stand up to the status quo and say, "This is wrong."

For that, I respected the man.

But, he saw the truth but did not fully understand what so many still do not even see.  Tommy James figured it out.  I eventually learned.  And though Clay never could due to the Islamic base of his faith - a Jewish prophesy, this song still conveys what many know from Revelation 1: the Shekinah Glory of God revealed on Earth ...