But it’s not the black person transcending race; it’s the white person letting down his or her barriers to appreciate the black person. Ali made no special efforts to be more palatable to white people; white people just finally caught up with him. They valued him, in spite of the legacy of racism.

I agree with everything you wrote, yet the whole thing could be re-said also about Muhammad Ali being a Muslim, and people ignoring that because he was so great and it doesn’t fit the view of Muslim we usually see in the mainstream (immigrant, Arab or South Asian, “terrorist”).

I believe racists and bigots DO actually believe that transcending race is a thing. Ali isn’t black-black like the guy down the street that is disrespected. He’s better than black. A magical negro, if you will. He made it out of black and into this gray space of approval that never trickles down to normie negroes. I…

This reminds me of what Chris Rock said about Obama becoming president:

It’s amazing to me that people can say this about a man who spent his life fighting racism and trying to free his people. A man who was so proud of his blackness that he frequently threw it in the faces of people to eloquently shut them down:

Shhhh

it’s basically “they were so good we didnt even CARE that they were black!!” its so awful

you are stuck on this and your attempts to use it as an explanation to what is probably your own racism is transparent af.

Whenever a black person or black people come into a predominantly white sport and do better than everyone the answer is usually to marginalize them as much as possible in their everyday life and as their employer. Whether it’s “Well, you can play football, but never quarterback - you’re not smart enough for that”…

I’m thinking that may have a lot to do with how people who were not “his own” treated him.

black people preferring the company of other black people is not racist.

I have a feeling—both good and bad—that I’ll end up referring people to this post in the future a fair bit. Not just because of Muhammad Ali, but because I think it taps into a lot of the “I don’t see colour” bullshit. It’s meant to be a compliment, but it really, really isn’t.

Thank you for this article every single time a black legend has died this year I hear that transcended race statement and it makes me angry because you didn’t hear anybody say that about Bowie so why is constantly being said about Prince or Ali? Its an insult to a black person to hear that their hero transcended race…

Really great article, Kara. I get what they’re trying to say but to me when someone writes or says “transcended race” it just feels like they’re saying “we really liked them even though they were black” or “good thing they escaped that whole being black thing otherwise we wouldn’t have paid them any attention at all.”

Any sportscaster who thinks people didn’t see color when they saw Ali should find another line of work. There’s a fucking reason why Jerry Quarry was called ‘The Great White Hope’ when he went up against Ali. Because whenever a black man became a boxing champ, white America lost their shit.

I understand that, according to the constitution, Obama needs to step down as president but what’s the law on Michelle staying on as FLOTUS?

Jesse Williams is such a fucking dreamboat. I don't even understand how he's real.

Jesse Williams should’ve been Finnick in the Hunger Games. No, I'm not over it.

If only we had more awareness about guns in America