Muhammad Ali will never die.
October is Black History Month in the UK, so I’m posting a poignant poem by Muhammad Ali on the massacre of 33 African-American prisoners which ended the Attica Prison Uprising. Also his closing statements to the Irish interviewer, Cathal O’Shannon, are also of significance.
It is called Freedom – Better Now
Better far— from all I see—
To die fighting to be free
What more fitting end could be?Better surely than in some bed
Where in broken health I’m led
Lingering until I’m deadBetter than with prayers and pleas
Or in the clutch of some disease
Wasting slowly by degreesBetter than a heart attack
or some dose of drug I lack
Let me die by being blackBetter far that I should go
Standing here against the foe
Is the sweeter death to knowBetter than the bloody stain
on some highway where I’m lain
Torn by flying glass and paneBetter calling death to come
than to die another dumb,
muted victim in the slumBetter than of this prison rot
if there’s any choice I’ve got
Kill me here on the spotBetter for my fight to wage
Now while my blood boils with rage
Less it cool with ancient ageBetter violent for us to die
Than to Uncle Tom and try
Making peace just to live a lieBetter now that I say my sooth
I’m gonna die demanding Truth
While I’m still akin to youthBetter now than later on
Now that fear of death is gone
Never mind another dawn.
You can watch the interview in full below:
