The Irish Claim Muhammad Ali

share
0

Recent videos from gtdanyelz

2 untitled
Dec 20, 2009
210 videos see all

what people are saying

add a comment

2000 characters left.
First collected by gtdanyelz
Sep 1, 2009
from youtube.com
join Your favorite videos on the web, in one place. Start your collection now.

related videos

tags

collected by 1 person

details

42 views

original description

Every African American knows that somewhere in their family tree, a white European or American resides. However, not all of them were rapists and not all of them were males, either. Some families do not want to acknowledge us, while others will even cross the oceans to connect with us. In Kentucky, Abe Grady married an African-American woman and they had a son called John Grady -- Ali's grandfather. His daughter Odessa Lee Grady was Ali's mother. Ali was originally Cassius Marcellus Clay Junior but changed his name to Muhammad Ali after joining the Nation of Islam in 1964. Muhammad Ali was honored yesterday with a scroll of freedom proclaiming him as the first freeman of a west of Ireland town from where his great-grandfather Grady emigrated to the United States. The three-time heavyweight champion is now 67 and fighting Parkinson's disease. The length of his tour of Ireland for charitable causes is depending largely on his health. Yet Ali was fêted at a civic reception in the small town, which has been decorated with bunting and US flags. His wife, Lonnie, described the reception Ali received as the most exciting of his life. Ten thousand people were said to have turned out to greet and celebrate Ali, along with members of the Grady family who are said to be his fourth cousins. His wife thanked Ennis Town Council and Mayor Frankie Neylon and on behalf of her husband declared, “Now that we know that Muhammad is an Ennis man, we will be back”. Later, in an interview on RTÉ, she said: “I have never seen anything like this before and neither has he. He was overwhelmed by it, really ecstatic. It was better than any medicine you could give him. He was excited and surprised by the outpouring of people, even the children who were out in the street. It was wonderful.”
Flag this Video as inappropriate or broken