Cassius: A Very Brief Summary

This story is about an athletic and social person who used to go by the name of Cassius. Cassius was born in a small city called Louisville, Kentucky, on the 17th of January, 1942. He was raised as a Christian, however, growing up, Cassius experienced racial prejudice and discrimination. For example, one time when he was thirsty, he was denied access to water simply because of his race.

At the age of twelve Cassias discovered that he had a talent in boxing. This discovery was made when his bike was stolen and went to the police to report it. Cassius was angry and wanted to beat up the thief, but the police officer, a man named Joe Martin, told him "Well, you better learn how to fight before you start challenging people." What Cassius didn't

He won his first 19 matches without any loss, however, that did not stop the discrimination and racism he faced in his personal life. Therefore, he did some spiritual searching and decided to join the black Muslim group, the Nation of Islam, in 1964. What made Islam special to him was that there is no discrimination between white and black, so he converted to Islam, and changed his name to Mohammed.

After his conversion to Islam, Mohammed started a different kind of fight with his outspoken views against the Vietnam War. In fact, in April 1967, he refused to serve in the military against Vietnam because he was a Muslim with religious beliefs that prevented him from fighting other Muslims. However, the government stripped him of his world title and boxing license, and in June 1967, he was found guilty of violating Selective Service laws and sentenced to five years in prison but remained free while appealing his conviction. Because of that, he missed more than three prime years of his athletic career.

During that period of time, Mohammed held many speeches in universities and public places about discrimination and the war in Vietnam and eventually, in June 1971, the conviction was overturned by the supreme