He famously refused to be drafted to fight in the Vietnam War (an act many people considered to be courageous, considering he lost alot for this choice). Is he respected for this by Vietnamese people? Or is he not as publically known/talked about?
Posted Dec 17, 2019, 5:53 AM UTC
“Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on Brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights? No I’m not going 10,000 miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over. This is the day when such evils must come to an end. I have been warned that to take such a stand would cost me millions of dollars. But I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of my people is here. I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality. If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22 million of my people they wouldn’t have to draft me, I’d join tomorrow. I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I’ll go to jail, so what? We’ve been in jail for 400 years.” — Muhammad Ali
Holy shit that's even better than I remembered
Can't speak for Native Vietnamese, because i was born and raised overseas in a former eastern block country. However i do think that no Native Vietnamese ever heard of him. Mainly due the fact that Mohammed Ali actions only affected mainly more Americans than the war or the Vietnamese People.
People said no one knows about him but here I am knowing who he is since I was a kid. Yeah I'm not a boxer, not a communist, not a historical expert, I don't even know how he look until I googled him in my high school years. I just know because he's on TV, newspapers and book, some documentaries also talked about how he refused to fight in Vietnam war and got sent to jail because of that.
This might be a bit random, but I also remember that Doraemon - the most popular manga in Vietnam referenced him in a chapter: http://doctruyendoremon.vn/upload/images/truyen-tranh-doremon-ngan-3-2015-07-15.jpg . It has been almost 30 years and I still remember this part because his speech really impressed me as a kid.
Yes, he might not be too well known, but if you look at the state of Vietnam after the war, people of older generations (70s and older) just can't afford to learn to read and write, most choose to work to support their family or join the military, some didn't even made it out alive. TV is also a luxury item until late 80s. So if anything, it's the younger generations that should know about him better.
Yooooo. I ve known him for the exact same reason. This shit is just unbelievable. Every-time i saw that name, there was always a voice in my head that said : he punched like a bumble bee but i could neva figure out from where i read it. Well done, sir
Me too. People who born and raised between 80s and 2000s probably ever heard his name as one of the most famous boxers. Even in the era of Tyson and Holyfield.
Ali never went to jail for dodging the draft, that's a myth and propaganda to lift his status
I only know that he is a famous boxer from Doraemon manga.
And TIL that he is also a hero.
Well, everyone who has an average life during the war are all just trying to survive and working. So everyone is too busy trying to outlive the war to care about another guy who don't want to go to war with their country.
Native Vietnamese here, literally had to Google Muhammad Ali.
How old are you? a teenager?
Well I heard about Ali but never heard of this fact. I think many people will be like me, and a lot will never know about him.
Draft or not draft, were the things happened inside America at the time of war, which was not an interest by Vietnamese people at that time.
They don't care. In Vietnam or America. You might find outliers but they had much worst things going on at the time than to be informed about his political stances during the war and afterwards.
I'm Vietnamese born and bred. I know about him via boxing, but not about anything regarding his view/relation to the Vietnam War. This is the sort of thing we would grow up and learn about from the documentaries and stories from people from the other side, and the Internet, but not something we got to learn at school obviously. So yeah, I'm afraid not publicly known/talked about.
I’m a vietnamese, and I am pretty sure that none of us even know who he is, but for people who are fans of the boxing sport, then they’ll only know him as a famous boxer.
I’m sure Vietnamese know about Mike Tyson more than Ali
I know him by reading plus i myself love sports so i know that almost everyone in Vietnam hasn't heard the name Ali before. Boxing is not popular here and everyone seems to have no interested in one who wasn't directly involved in the war at all
Most Vietnamese people don't know or they are just indifferent towards him. He never actually did anything for vietnam, except for stating that he don't want to go fight in the war and basically dodge the draft (which many other americans did and went to jail for, Ali himself never got jail time). Other then that, what did he actually do for the Vietnamese that should be talked about? Serious question.
Ali is overrated in his humanitarians efforts imo. The leftist hipsters and anti-war groups of the time used him as their propaganda tool since he had alot of clout and was outspoken at the time. They propped him out to be some sort of anti-war hero, but just years before, they hated him cause he's anti-white people. He really just hated white people. He didn't want to go to Vietnam, NOT BECAUSE he wanted to save Viet Lives, but because he didn't want to fight on behalf of white people. This is all facts. Also, If he went and die, millions of potential $$$ in money future fights would have been lost. He rather dodge the draft, oppose the war and be touted as a hero, and get big $$$ in future fights, rather than fight and die for white america. That's what that was all about, not because he really cared for Viets, so why should Viets care?
Imagine being this mad about something for no reason.
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My U50 father loved him and Mike Tyson. Hence those boxing was part of my childhood. Thanks to you I know he was against the Vietnam War. Maybe because of that his matches passed the propaganda systems and were allowed to air. As one of the few symbols of entertainment at that time, he is remembered by people of my father generation.
Who??? Jk, but most vietnamese don't even know who he is, we only know mike tyson
Although i wasn’t born in the time of war and same for many Vietnamese here and most people don’t talk about him but i’ve always followed the “western” media to know about Muhammad Ali. Same as most people, I’m all for what he said about human’s right and respect that he acknowledged the Vietnamese who were fighting for our freedom.
R.I.P the GOAT
Who is Mohamed Ali? I only know Mohamed Allah!
Mohamed and Allah were 2 people, not 2 parts in the name of one person.
How you know my friend Mohamed Allah is 2 people? I have known him from ages and he always come in one?
Has your friend passed away? Note the past tense in my sentence ...
I was just giving info, which may or may not be relevant to your comment, but I wasn't referring to your friend.
Yeah, sadly he died last year because of syphillis that one of the so called virgin gave him. And i can tell you, there was only him in the coffin.
Avid boxing and sports followers would know. Around the late 90s and early 2000s there were live broadcast of boxing games such as E. Holyfield vs M. Tyson and Ali's name was mentioned a few times as one of the legendary boxers.
His involvement in anti-war activities may not be as well-known, though.
Nobody in Vietnam has ever heard of him.
Totally agree. OP needs to remember the average age of Vietnamese citizens is far far below wartime (median is 30.5 years). A minuscule fraction under that age will have ever heard of him. Those older were either directly dealing with the war or its aftermath and Ali would not have been on their radar screen except in rare cases.
Furthermore, boxing is not a thing here (Although a few boxing clubs have started to pop up in the last few years which is awesome.) So there is no reason for young Vietnamese to come in contact with him as a sports figure. I doubt his legacy as an anti-war activist is taught in Vietnamese public schools but I would love to be proven wrong on that.
Great question though and Ali was an absolute legend both in the ring and out. A personal hero.
Not quite true, as anyone know boxing here knows about him and his regard of racism and vietnam war. But eh, he is just a figure.
Sure, not literally no one, especially since there was that Will Smith movie. But like AnhRacRoi said, people don't get that Vietnam is young. Like, go pick all your favourite American movies from the 1980s and you won't find anyone has heard of any of them. I'm constantly having to show my wife classics like Groundhog Day or Princess Bride....
And Ali was another two decades before that!
Also the embargo blocked out American movies until the mid 90’s.
Cant't remember how many times I pirated those classic movies. It's true that most of Vietnamese people don't enjoy spending hours to find a working link and then wait for their film to download, but still, there's a tiny chance you would meet a local that understands every reference from The Room.