My father was often given to racist phrases. I honestly don’t know if he was ever really a racist in his heart, but some of the shit he used to say blew my mind and would probably get my mind blown out if said loudly in public.

…and then he turns right around and more or less worships Muhammad Ali. Seriously, barely a day went by when I was a kid that I did not hear that name.

I used to think it was so strange.

Anyway, your writing made me think of that.

I never cared for boxing, but I’ll always respect the man for the point he made that pissed so many people off. He was being drafted to “serve his country” by going to foreign land and getting shot so politicians could play giant sized RISK.

“Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go ten thousand 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?”

I’ll be damned if I would let my country force me into wartime service when my country didn’t even provide/protect my citizen rights, much less my human rights, because of my skin color.