Muhammad Ali, in his time, was considered a loudmouth; so too is Norm Edwards considered a loudmouth. Muhammad Ali was considered a bully of sorts (at least in the boxing ring); so too is Norm Edwards considered a bully (not in the boxing ring, but in an environment no less brutal). But at the end of the day Muhammad Ali was right, and so too is Norm Edwards.
The greatest human being to bestride the earth in my lifetime — with perhaps the exception of Nelson Mandela, and indeed it’s too close to call since both of them had a profound impact on the world — Ali, in his fight for justice, equality and basic fairness changed the world.
Norm Edwards, on the other hand, is just attempting to change Northeast Ohio. But if you reside hereabouts and are a person of color, his mission is no less important than Ali’s.
The inbred, allopatric and rampant racism that Ali fought against all of his adult life is still too prevalent today, so one has to wonder, “What did he really accomplish?” The answer is, a tremendous amount. When the notion arose in black conscientiousness that “Black is Beautiful” there was Ali, bragging, “Ain’t I pretty!” And he was.
But only a black man who could rightfully claim that he could whup (not “whip” mind you but whup) any man in the world could make such a boast and not be laughed at or ridiculed. Ali indeed wrought monumental changes on an unjust society.
What Ali was bragging about in the ring was his ability to “hit and not be hit.” That’s the art of the “sweet science of boxing.” Ali would boast, “You can’t hit what you can’t see!”
More than one mournful opponent would cry, “He won’t stand still long enough for me to hit him!” Indeed, half (or perhaps more than half) of being a great boxer is being elusive — slipping punches, and tying an opponent up when they got close enough to do real damage.
Another greatest of all time, the comic genius Richard Pryor, used to do a routine in which he is dancing around, pretending to be Ali in the ring. He said (and I’m paraphrasing here) that whenever an opponent was in range of landing some telling blows, Ali would grab them in a clinch, smothering their punches and whisper in their ear, ‘I’m not going to let you get too frisky up in here.” And then, as he pushed the opponent away, he’d hit them with one of his left jabs (which was as powerful as the piston on a steam locomotive) and say with a smile, ‘Oh, and take this with you!”
That was a major component of Ali’s genus: His humor.
Back to Norm Edwards: And that’s his tragic flaw: a total lack of humor.
Is Norm right when he says that after over 50 years of promises, by and large the trade unions and major contractors are still full of shit? Of course he is.
How is it that you can see blacks operating all kinds of heavy construction equipment, doing every job imaginable on a construction site — when working for a government entity such as the City of Cleveland — and not be qualified to do it for private contractors? This doesn’t pass the smell or straight-face test. And it doesn’t because it’s total bullshit.
Oh, the unions and big contractors today like to brag about what they are doing with the Community Benefits Agreement (in terms of training minorities), but virtually every job site I drive past in Cleveland still has all white workers. If blacks are being trained in these trades, why aren’t they making it out to the job site?
It’s simple: A black dude can make it through the training process, but he still has to be assigned to a job site. And that’s simply not happening, or at least not happening enough. It’s a game that’s been played since the ’70s. I know, since I was one of the first blacks to try to integrate the trades back in 1969 as a master, certified steam pipe welder.
I was driven off the job site after repeated attempts to kill me via an “accident.”
Both Ali and Pryor (similar to Norm) told some cold, hard truths. But they often interjected humor. Shakespeare once wrote, “Ah, the comic, now there’s a dangerous man.”
Not to put myself in the class of these two giants, but I too have written some very harsh truths. But I’ve attempted to temper my remarks with the occasional sweet honey of humor. But the harsh truth of reality is always still somewhere embedded in my commentary.
Norm Edward’s tragic flaw is that he hasn’t learned how to wrap his harsh truths with the sometimes sweet coating of humor. Once he learns that, he’ll find that his message will be easier for the people in power he’s struggling against to swallow — and in that way he’ll accomplish so much more for the people he’s been fighting so hard for all of his life.
From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://NeighborhoodSolutionsInc.com.