Ali: Spirit of the 60s
Essay title: Ali: Spirit of the 60s
Cassius Clay was just a boxer. A boxer who captured the hearts of Americans while winning the 1960s Olympic gold. Here was a young man at the age of 18, representing the greatest nation on the planet and making his people proud. He would again gain the fascination of America with his defeat of the anti-hero of the time Sonny Liston. However, this hero famed across mainstream America would not last, all it would take was a man finding himself.
Introducing Muhammed Ali, another boxer. However, just a boxer was not simple enough. This man who used to be called Cassius Clay, now embodied the radical change that was beginning to creep its way into American society. This Ali rejected what he called his “slave name” and now accepted the religion of Islam, a slap to the face of those Christian Americans who rallied behind him when he was in Rome and when he defeated Sonny Liston. This man and his strange religion of Islam now captured America in a different sense, one that didnt sit too well with many. He would soon become the anti-hero of some and at the different spectrum a hero to others. His life would parallel the decade. This man would represent a catalyst of change to the system and to society. It would take another battle to create this change though, not against any other burly man swinging his arms, but against a government and its war.
Alis battle with the US government really captured the epic social battle that was happening in America. New, some would say radical, themes and ideas had boomed in this decade of confusion and turbulence. Ali