UN honored Ali’s lifelong commitment to peace

When Muhammad Ali was trying to win a fourth heavyweight championship in the late 1970s, he came to the United Nations to campaign against apartheid and injustice and presented then secretary-general Kurt Waldheim with one of his drawings entitled “Peace!“

Nearly 20 years later, Ali returned to UN headquarters to be named one of the first UN Messengers of Peace, an honor reserved for distinguished people from the arts, music, literature and sports who agree to focus world attention on the work of the United Nations.
Then secretary-general Kofi Annan, who started the program in 1997, said “I chose him because I knew his interest in peace and in the world.” He said that Ali confirmed that interest with another gift to the United Nations — a drawing of the globe with the inscription: “Service to others is rent we pay here on this earth.”
“It was so powerful,” Annan said in a recent phone interview with The Associated Press from Geneva. “Obviously, he had lost his speed, his vitality and energy, but the concern for others and the love for peace was very much visible.”
On Friday, thousands of people from the worlds of sports, entertainment, politics and Muhammad Ali’s native Louisville bid farewell to the boxing legend eulogized by Bill Clinton as a “universal soldier for our common humanity.”
A poignant memorial service, which began with a Qur'an recitation, capped two days of tributes honoring Ali.
Then former President Clinton, comedian Billy Crystal, Ali’s wife Lonnie and others addressed mourners gathered at a Louisville arena — remembrances that lauded his athletic gifts, his passionate civil rights activism and his quick wit.
“We all have an Ali story. It’s the gift we all have that should be most honored today,” Clinton said.
“Besides being a lot of fun to be around and basically a universal soldier for our common humanity, I will always think of Muhammad as a truly free man of faith.”
Crystal, who brought some levity to the proceedings with comic impressions and a few well-received jokes, called Ali “a tremendous bolt of lightning created by Mother Nature, the fantastic combination of power and beauty.”
Mourners chanted Ali’s name as Lonnie took the stage, her face obscured by her wide-brimmed black hat.
She reminded the crowd: “If Muhammad did not like the rules, he would rewrite them. His religion, his name, his beliefs, were his to fashion, no matter what the cost.”
Spectators threw red roses and other flowers onto the hearse, blocking much of its windshield by the time it reached its destination. A fleet of limousines transporting Ali’s family and close friends followed.
“The kids love him, he’s always stood for hope in this neighborhood,” Toya Johnson told AFP outside his boyhood home.
“For the youth here, he is an example.”
Rabbi Lerner used the occasion to attack income inequality, mass incarceration, and take a swipe at Donald Trump while predicting Hillary will become the next president.
Actor Will Smith — who earned an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Ali on the silver screen — and former heavyweight champions Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis served as pallbearers.

Source: Arab News