Thank you ALI,
Until I watched a man willing to give up fame, fortune, and freedom rather than give up his ethical integrity, I thought it was a given I would support and fight for my country--without question. This speech transformed my life, it altered the way I understood American history, all for the better. Ali kick-started the anti-war protests, he gave millions of boys my age the freedom to resist, he doesn't get enough credit even now.
MUHAMMAD ALI:
I ain't draft dodging. I ain't burning no flag. I ain't running to Canada. I'm staying right here. You want to send me to jail? Fine, you go right ahead. I've been in jail for 400 years. I could be there for 4 or 5 more, but I ain't going no 10,000 miles to help murder and kill other poor people. If I want to die, I'll die right here, right now, fightin' you, if I want to die. You my enemy, not no Chinese, no Vietcong, no Japanese. You my opposer when I want freedom. You my opposer when I want justice. You my opposer when I want equality. Want me to go somewhere and fight for you? You won't even stand up for me right here in America, for my rights and my religious beliefs. You won't even stand up for my right here at home.
-------------He didn't give money to causes, he gave himself, how many cultural icons can we say that about?