Ali had it

RENOWNED British television show host and columnist Michael Parkinson interviewed Muhammad Ali on October 17, 1971.

“Can I ask you when you were first aware, when you were a child, of the differences between black and white?”

This is what heavyweight boxing’s greatest ever champion said nearly 50 years ago:

“I do a lot of reading, a lot of studying. I ask questions, I’ll go out, travel these countries, I’ll watch how their people live, and I learn. And I always asked my mother, I said, ‘Momma, how come is everything white?’ I said, ‘Why is Jesus white with blond hair and blue eyes? Why is the Lord’s supper all white men? Angels are white, the Pope, Mary’. I said, ‘Mother, when we die, do we go to Heaven?’”

“She said, ‘Naturally we go to Heaven.’ I said, ‘Well, what happened to all the black angels?’

“They took the pictures,” said my mom.

“I said, ‘Oh, I know. If the white folks is in heaven too, then the black angels were in the kitchen, preparing the milk and honey.’

“She said, ‘Listen, you quit saying that, boy.’

“I was always curious. And I always wondered why I had to die to go to heaven.

“Why couldn’t I have pretty cars and good money and nice homes now? Why do I have to wait till I die to get milk and honey?”

“So anyway, I was always curious. I always wondered why Tarzan is the King of the Jungle in Africa, he was white.

“I saw this white man swinging around Africa with a diaper on, hollering. And all of the Africans, he’s beating them up and breaking the lion’s jaw, and here’s Tarzan, talking to the animals.

“And the Africans have been there for centuries and they can’t talk to the animals. Only Tarzan can talk to the animals. I always wondered why.

“And Miss America was always white. All the beautiful brown women in America, beautiful sun tans, beautiful shapes, all types of complexions, but she always was white.

“And Miss World was always white, and Miss Universe was always white.

“And then they got some stuff called White House cigars, White Swan soap, King White soap, White Cloud tissue paper, White Rain hair rinse,

White Tornado floor wax, everything was white.

“And the angel fruit cake was the white cake and the devil food cake was the chocolate cake.

“I said, ‘Momma, why is everything white?’ I always wondered. And the President lived in the White House. And Mary had a little lamb with feet as white as snow, and Snow White, and everything was white.

“Santa Claus was white and everything bad was black. The little ugly duckling was the black duck, and the black cat was the bad luck. And if I threaten you, I’m going to blackmail you.

“I said, ‘Momma, why don’t they call it ‘whitemail’? They lie too.’ I was always curious. And then this is when I knew something was wrong.”

Nearly 50 years later and everything is still wrong, which is why every sporting code has a responsibility to create awareness about black lives and that #Blacklivesmatter. It is why sporting codes must constantly challenge the members and players within their respective codes when it comes to prejudice, much of it engrained.

There is white bias in commentary all the time, which has to be highlighted and countered. For centuries, the narrative has been white because it has been told by whites.

Those whites, whose first defence is to scream #Alllivesmatter, miss the point that ‘All Lives’ have never mattered,

“I said, ‘Momma, why is everything white?’

Muhammad Ali

AMERICAN PROFESSIONAL BOXER