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‘Come Here, I’m Still a Black Man’: Laila Ali Made Startling Muhammad Ali Revelation While Lauding Lebron James for His ‘Maturity’ When His House Was Vandalized With Racial Slur in a 2017 Interview

Published 10/10/2022, 3:00 PM EDT

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In 2017, NBA star LeBron James’ house was vandalized with a spray-painted racist slur. Following this, James expressed that it was ‘tough’ being black in the United States. After the incident had occurred, Laila Ali appeared on SC6. On the show, they asked how Ali thought James had handled the incident with the public statements he made.

Regarding the question put forward by Jemele Hill, Ali said James handled the situation well as far as his statements were concerned. In addition, Ali said had it been her, she would have probably been a little ignorant, but James had tackled it well. In her opinion, James had exhibited maturity speaking of a topic such as racism in the US.

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“I thought he handled it really well. And showed a lot of maturity because we all know that, you know, there’s still racism in this country. And it really doesn’t matter how much money you have [or] how successful you are,” she said.

USA Today via Reuters

According to Ali, irrespective of how successful one was, there were racist people who always felt the need to put another in their place. “It happened to LeBron so a lot of people had the opportunity to see it but it’s not the first time. And it won’t be the last, unfortunately,” she added saying.

Speaking of racism, Laila Ali made a reference to her father, Muhammad Ali, and what he used to say.

Laila Ali shared a Muhammad Ali event she had witnessed while young

Ali talked about how different people came to visit the respectful Muhammad Ali while he lived. During those times the champ said something which Laila did not understand until she got older and matured with age.

She said, “No matter who was visiting him, it could be a prince from overseas or a president or some dignitary, whatever.”

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via Imago

“They always talked about how much they loved you, ‘We love you, Muhammad’. ‘You’re so great.’ He would always say, ‘Come here, I’m still a black man,'” Laila Ali concluded, saying.

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In his younger days, Muhammad Ali often encountered racism in the United States. Having won an Olympic medal, a young Ali then Cassius Clay entered a restaurant that did not serve black men. Even though Ali had won an Olympic medal for the United States, the restaurant refused him service due to the color of his skin. An event that led Ali to fling his gold medal into the river of Ohio and be disheartened.

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How do we shape a better society and eradicate discrimination on the basis of ethnicity, religion, and race? Share your thoughts in the comments.

 

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Written by:

Samrat Sardar

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Samrat Sardar is a Boxing writer at EssentiallySports and is currently a final year undergraduate student of English literature. A passionate content creator, he has been writing since his high school days, and possesses work experience as a commercial writer for companies such as WordsKraft among others. Samrat believes he fell in love with boxing the day he watched Vasiliy Lomachenko share the ring with Guillermo Rigondeaux.
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Edited by:

Ajinkya Aswale