captioned-vines:

deehenn:

When they say “not all white people”

Ali: “The minute white people who mean right and in heart want to do right, but there are so few. If ten thousand rattlesnakes was coming down that aisle there, I had a door here I could shut. And in that ten thousand, one thousand meant right. One thousand rattlesnakes didn’t want to bite me, I knew they were good. Should I let all these rattlesnakes come down, hoping that that thousand get together and form a shield?” [audience laughs] “Or should I just close the door and stay safe?”

Interviewer: “I think that- “

Ali: “You understand? The Vietcong, they weren’t all bad, but America’s still dropping bombs. In Hiroshima, Japan wasn’t bad, but she still dropped the bomb. In Korea, they wasn’t bad but they still dropped the bomb. And now, I’m just gonna forget the 400 years of lynching and killing and raping and depriving my people of freedom, justice, and equality, first fired, last hired, the lowest of the low, last respected, and I’m gonna look at two or three white people who are trying to do right and don’t see the other million trying to kill me!” [audience laughs] “I’m not that big of a fool, and I’m not going to deny it. I believe everything.”