More fun with dated topic: identity politics in sports

Saw a powerful documentary last night called "Thrilla in Manilla". It could almost be seen as having a misleading title because the movie spends so much time on the whole 8 year history of the personal rivalry between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier that preceded the famous 1975 boxing match. This was the last of the three between them.

It really challenged my view of, among other things, Ali, who has always been the closest thing to a hero.

The story justly focuses on the POV from the Frazier camp. Basically Ali, after being publicly supported by Frazier during the 3 and 1/2 years of his being banned from Boxing for refusing the Vietnam war, demeaning and racial attacks against Frazier to promote each fight they had, calling Frazier ugly, dumb a gorilla, and uncle tom.

Most of you probably have a familiarity with the very complex context in which the action occurred. Ali was very aware of his influence as a black figure in the US. Other than Paul Robeson and a handful of others, no other famous African American before him was ever so assertive as a realized individual--Ali was also more famous than all of them. The levels racism that persisted well into the seventies are an intrinsic part of Ali's and, as this documentary shows, Frasier's experience. The tragedy suggested in this documentary is that Joe Frasier was unjustly identified with the old white slave owning and segregationist establishment.

In the middle of this racially charged feud between the two fighters...is class, which is pervasive in many narratives in our culture, but always on the basis of "culture" rather than real economics. It was Ali, who had a relatively privileged upbringing in Louisville Kentucky. Frasier was the working class guy from the deep south. A man, who as heavy weight champion of the world from 1967-to 1973, still found himself rejected at public places when visiting family back in SC.