Click to go to the Subscriber Log In Page
Go to menu with buttons for all pages on BC
Click here to go to the Home Page
Est. April 5, 2002
 
           
June 09, 2016 - Issue 657



A Beautiful Specimen Of A Man!
A Poem about Ali

By Dr. Carlos Russell, PhD

Early this morning,
  On first reading
   Of the passing 
     Of Muhammad Ali,
       Sweet and bitter memories
        Came to me.
        "A "black man's Hero" was he.
Though saddened and sullen, 
   He still is for me.  
      Who "floated like a butterfly 
         And stung like a bee";
            Who "shook up the world"
               For all of us to see.
"Ain't got no quarrel with no Vietcong"
   Remained with me all life long.
    That, was Muhammad Ali! 
      A beautiful specimen of a MAN!
         For all on the planet to see.
"The most colorful fighter in the world"
    Was he.
"The "Bear"
The "Mummy"
And the "Beast"
Like struck trees they fell
  Flat at his feet.
  "He came,
     He saw,
       He conquered"
        --Almost all-- 
And now he is gone.
The world will mourn his  loss.     
With tears in my eyes, 
    This morning,
       I ask.
 "When cometh such another?"


BlackCommentator.com Guest Commentator, Dr. Carlos E. Russell, PhD is Professor Emeritus C.U.N.Y. - Brooklyn College. In the sixties, he served as an Associate Editor of the Liberator magazine. As such, he was one of the first to interview Malcolm X after he left the Nation. He is best remembered as the founder of Black Solidarity Day in New York in 1969 and as the Chair of the Black Caucus of the Conference on New Politics in 1967. In addition, he was a consultant to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the planning for the Poor Peoples March. Excerpts of his participation can be seen in Citizen King and Eyes on the Prize (PBS Mini Series Boxed Set). Born in the Republic of Panama, he has served as that country’s representative to the U.N and the O.A.S. with the rank of Ambassador. He has also served as the nightly host of “Thinking it Through” a talk show that was aired on WLIB in New York. He is a playwright and poet as well. Contact Dr.Russell.
 

 
 

 

 

is published every Thursday
Executive Editor:
David A. Love, JD
Managing Editor:
Nancy Littlefield, MBA
Publisher:
Peter Gamble









Ferguson is America: Roots of Rebellion by Jamala Rogers