Taking a Stand: An Anniversary

Nice piece in NYT about Muhammad Ali's refusal to be drafted in the military.


"Ali was one of the most identifiable human beings on the planet. Here was the Greatest, telling the world that he was not going to war. For me, words like conscience, principle and integrity were merely terms in a civics class. When Ali defended his controversial position, how he had no appetite for war, standing for one’s principle became concrete. 'My conscience won’t let me shoot my brother or some darker people,” he told reporters. 'And shoot them for what? They never called me [n-word].'"