Muhammad Ali

(somber music) -

Narrator

Two weeks later, an all-white Houston jury found Ali guilty of refusing the draft. The judge, ignoring the more lenient recommendation of the prosecutor, sentenced him to the maximum, five years in prison and a $10,000 fine, and he would have to surrender his passport. Ali's lawyers immediately filed an appeal, prepared to go all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary, a process that could take years. Ali remained free, but without his title or a license to box. He fully expected that he would one day go to jail for his beliefs. We who are followers of honorable Elijah Muhammad, the religion of Islam, we believe in obeying the laws of the land. We are taught to obey the laws of the land, as long as it don't conflict with our religious beliefs. -

Reporter

Will you go into service as such? This would be a thousand percent against the teachings of the honorable Elijah Muhammad, the religion of Islam and the holy Quran, the holy book that we believe in. This will all be denouncing and defying everything that I stand for. -

Reporter

This would mean, of course, that you stand the chance of going to jail as a result of not going as a service. Well, whatever the punishment, whatever the persecution is for standing up for my religious beliefs, even if it means facing machine gun fire, that day, I will face it before denouncing Elijah Muhammad and the religion of Islam. I'm ready to die. When I think about him saying, if they want to put me before a firing squad tomorrow, I'm ready to die before I abandon my religion. That's it. You can't teach that kind of thing in lectures and books. That kind of thing has to be modeled and models turn into traditions and traditions provide people with the mechanical memory to do the right thing. That's what Muhammad Ali represented in that moment. I mean, anybody now faced with a major decision and what's the right way is clear and the wrong way is clear, but the consequences are dire, now they have a model that they can fall back on psychologically, emotionally, spiritually. That's what Muhammad Ali represented in that moment. And that to me, that moment will live on forever.