“I think he raised the fact early on that all African-Americans were not cut from the same cloth and we all did not have the same consciousness as such,” said Dewey Clayton, a University of Louisville political scientist. More than any athlete of his time, Ali challenged the nation’s limiting notions of black identity. As a solo act, he has become a country music star. Does that make him a racial sellout or a man of principle?ĭarius Rucker first found musical success as a guitarist and lead singer for the rock band Hootie and the Blowfish. He opposes affirmative action, saying it stigmatizes its beneficiaries. Justice Clarence Thomas is the only African-American on the U.S. The nation’s first black president has been criticized for not doing more to forge a black policy agenda. LeBron: Muhammad Ali’s success in ring secondary to work outside itĪli made both groups confront the question of what it meant to be black in a majority white society.ĭecades later, the question still echoes in ways both profound and picayune.Muhammad Ali’s inspiring speech about life and death.Muhammad Ali and the lyricism of self-love.