Black History Month: Khalilah Ali says a ban on Black history is a ban on American history – Key Biscayne Independent

Key Biscayne Independent
Facts Are Stubborn Things
Like many African Americans in the 1960s, when Khalilah Ali visited Miami with her late ex-husband, Muhammad Ali, she said people like her were forbidden to walk on Miami Beach because of their skin color.
Only Black people with a worker’s card were permitted to be there — and breaking the rules meant that they would face jail time.
Ali, now a South Florida resident, remembered staying at the Black-owned hotel Historic Hampton House, the safe haven for many Black celebrities. The Historic Hampton House is now a nonprofit museum in the neighborhood of Brownsville in Miami.
As the nation celebrates Black History Month, Khalilah Ali ponders over the significance of preserving that history, such as George Washington Carver, who developed 300 uses for peanuts or Garrett Morgan, the creator of traffic lights.
Muhammad Ali’s achievements are not limited to the boxing ring. Having gone to school in Louisville, Kentucky, during the desegregation era, he was a social justice and civil rights activist. Ali, who died in 2016 after a fight with Parkinson’s Disease, was a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War, a devout Muslim and was considered a titan in the Black community.
“I played a significant part in his life,” Khalilah Ali said, which she talks about in her memoir “Undefeated: The Untold Story of My Forgiveness and Healing. “We developed our first family.”
He was a religious freedom fighter who opposed the Vietnam War, which Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. commended him, saying that “we are all—Black and Brown and poor— victims of the same system of oppression,” according to the University of Louisville Libraries.
“You cannot ban Black history — to ban Black history is to ban American history,” Khalilah Ali said. “Every nationality in this continent in the world has contributed to build this country where it is today.”
When people don’t know their history, she added, they won’t have the initiative to make it better.
But she wants Black Americans to capitalize on positivity, saying although Black people were slaves, they’re now able to own cars, businesses and homes. “We should not bring the negativity.”
Policing
When it comes to police disproportionately targeting the black community, Ali says respect needs to go both ways. Still, she calls for stricter punitive measures when police officers are under investigation.
“If an officer kills somebody, Black or white, and they do it unjustly, they shouldn’t only get suspended from work,” she said. “They should be suspended from getting their money — suspended without pay until the investigation is over.”
Ali’s book “Color to Learn” educates children, as well as adults, on how to behave during interactions with law enforcement. She added her family members are police officers and firemen.
“When you’re on the wrong side of the law, it’s not gonna look good. And if you’re not on the wrong side of the law, you should still show respect,” she said.
Married Life
Born and raised in Chicago, Khalilah Ali is a public speaker, an author and actor known for her roles in The China Syndrome, Pure Justice and The Grid, according to her IMDb.
She has been all over the world, including Dubai and Afghanistan, where she helps orphans financially, she said. Speaking at schools, she imparts a number of lessons, one of which is to take care “of our own,” which includes supporting Black-owned businesses.
Khalilah Ali first met her husband when she was 10 and he was 18. Muhammad Ali, who was born Cassius Clay, visited her school, Muhammad University of Islam No. 2. in Chicago.
At the time Muhammad Ali visited the school, he was learning about the Honorable Elijah Muhammad Empire – which values respect and promotes peace.
Muhammad Ali told Khalilah’s classmates that they needed to get his autograph because he was going to be famous.
Seven years later, the couple tied the knot privately in a two-bedroom home in Chicago. Khalilah Ali said she rented her dress because wedding dresses are only worn once.
The couple was married from 1967 to 1976. Their children are Rasheda, Maryum, Jamillah and Muhammad Ali Jr.
She helped Muhammad while he was undergoing training, she said. They also suffered greatly during his legal battle to avoid enlisting in the army.
She cooked and traveled with him and the children for his matching fights. She was there when he gave speeches, too.
Khalilah Ali didn’t realize she was part of history until she visited the University of Miami and saw the Black History 101 Mobile Museum. She knew half of the pictures of people on display, she said.
“I was really excited when we used to travel. I met …the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his family,” Ali recalled.
BIILY JEAN LOUIS is the senior editor of the Key Biscayne Independent. A native of Port Au Prince, Haiti, Jean Louis has worked for Bloomberg and the Baltimore Sun. He is a corps member of Report for America
BIILY JEAN LOUIS is the senior editor of the Key Biscayne Independent. A native of Port Au Prince, Haiti, Jean Louis has worked for Bloomberg and the Baltimore Sun. He is a corps member of Report for… More by Billy Jean Louis
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