I liked Floyd Patterson. He's one of my favorite athletes. He believed that the black man and white man should live in harmony and as equals. That still roils a lot of people but I digress...But he did go overboard in his criticism of Ali and the Nation of Islam. You need to look at it through the lens of the times. True integration and equality was opposed by a lot of white people and just not in the south. As Malcolm X famously said "“I know nothing about the South. I am a creation of the Northern white man and of his hypocritical attitude towards the Negro." The Nation Of Islam, said, fine, we don't want to integrate with you either, and we're better than you. Was it misguided? Absolutely. Was it understandable a beleaguered people would turn to anything that empowered them? Absolutely.Il Duce wrote:That One,
If I didn't know better,
I think you've turned this thread into a 'Muhammad Ali Worship Thread'.
I really didn't want to go in 'That One' direction.
I wanted to focus on Cassius Clay 'spewing' hate, saying disparaging things,
as well as exhibiting cruel behavior towards a fellow human being in
November 1965.
I wish Ali had left the Nation Of Islam when Malcom X did but he didn't. He did leave the NOI and embraced conventional Islam In 1977 when Elijah Muhammad died.
And you are embellishing. Floyd and Cassius liked one another, ergo:
A: Part of the deal was willing participation on both sides to build up the gate and the closed-circuit viewing audience. Floyd related shortly after the fight that the famous confrontation at Patterson's training camp at which Ali showed up with a bag of carrots and called Patterson "The Rabbit" was indeed a publicity stunt, something that Ali felt he had to do. About the name thing: Patterson told W.C. Heinz that it was difficult for him to pronounce the word Muhammad, and that's why he continued to call Ali “Cassius.” Maybe that's true. Remember, Floyd had difficulty as a child learning to speak. Perhaps some words did cause him problems. Maybe it was because it was a "Muslim" word. Shortly after the fight, Patterson asked Ali if it was all right if he called him Cassius. Ali smiled and said, "Anytime, Floyd." Seven years later, when they fought for the second time, Ali said something to the effect that, yes, Patterson still called him Cassius and Floyd was the only person he allowed to do so.
http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/37158310/
