Ali Page #4

Oh, yeah. Hold on.

I'm doing the rhymin'.

The people really look up to you. You

plan on being a champ like Joe Louis?

Well, yeah, I'm gonna be

the people's champ.

Not like Joe Louis.

Well, you know, not exactly.

My name is not Clay.

Clay is the name of the people

that owned my ancestors...

and I no longer wanna be called

by that slave name.

- I am Cassius X.

- Minister Malcolm.

What about the divisions

in the Nation of Islam?

This is the champ's time. I'm here

as a friend to support his victory...

so I have nothing you want.

I'm definitely gonna be

the people's champion...

but I just ain't gonna be the champ

the way you want me to be the champ.

I'm gonna be the champ

the way I wanna be.

...for no home is immune

to termites...

no matter how well

it is built or maintained.

- Hey, brother.

- I was leaving.

I saw your light on.

What you doing up at this hour, champ?

Oh, man, I'm watching this program

on termites.

And them little itsy-bitsy things is

eatin' these people's whole house down.

Oh, man, look.

I've been invited to speak

at Ibadan University in Nigeria.

- You wanna go with me?

- Hey, look, man.

You can have six million termites

in your house and don't even know it...

till you going to get something to eat

and you bust through the floor.

- What'd you say? Where?

- Africa. You been?

Africa.

All right, come on.

Let's go.

What is it?

You ever thought

you'd lose it?

I mean, really lose it?

When I was little, I tore out

this picture of Emmett Till.

They put the barbed wire

around his neck...

and strapped him

to that 75-pound cotton gin fan.

And they cut out one of his eyes

'cause he looked at some white lady.

Man.

I couldn't take my eyes to it,

couldn't throw it away.

When I heard about those...

four little girls who got bombed

in that Birmingham church...

the prohibitions of the Honorable

Elijah Muhammad prevented me...

from speaking

my thoughts in action.

Because Birmingham was part

of the civil rights struggle.

You know, begging for our place

at the white man's table.

But dead children

are dead children.

So the anger I felt

I had to contain.

I locked it up so tight...

my muscles seized.

I lost control

over the right side of my body.

My leg gave out.

Right arm gave out.

"I'm having a stroke," I thought.

But I had to hold it in

'cause all I wanted--

Brother, all I wanted to do

was find something and break it.

Break a part--

Break any part of this system...

because you are so provoked

in your heart...

and your spirit

as a human being...

at dead children.

And I could do...

nothing.

Everyone knows

I can't do nothing...

anymore.

So Elijah Muhammad has suspended me

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