Ali Makes Irish-American Version of Hajj to Ennis, County Clare

By

Mark Connor

© Copyright 2009, Mark Connor

On Tuesday, September 1, the greatest boxer of all time, Muhammad Ali, visited his matrilineal Great Grandfather’s birthplace in Ennis, County Clare, Ireland. Like pilgrimages made by so many Irish-Americans over the last century, the trip enabled a descendant of Erin to spiritually and emotionally reconnect with an ancestral identity buried beneath the outward national expression that forgets the Diaspora experience of an immigrant past. Ali is not thought of as an Irishman in America, but as an African, a descendent of slaves who joined the Nation of Islam and changed his name from Casius Clay immediately after winning the Heavyweight Championship of the World from Sonny Liston. But his Great Grandfather, Abe Grady, emigrated from Ireland and settled in Kentucky in the 1860s, marrying a freed slave. Grady’s Granddaughter, Odessa Lee Grady Clay, gave birth to Ali (then Casius Clay) in 1942.

Such an Irish-American journey back to one’s ancestral home, in this case including a visit to the actual house Grady was born in, is a journey for descendants of Erin that carries heavy emotional weight, one that would not equal but could be compared to the religious journey a Muslim makes at some point in one’s life to Mecca, in Saudi Arabia, known as a Hajj. The comparison here is not in any way meant to equate such sentiments for one’s ancestry with religious obligations, as the Hajj is for a Muslim who can afford it, but to celebrate the expression of an individual while recognizing the different combinations—from religious and ethnic to racial and cultural—that contribute to an individual human being’s identity. Such historical reality greatly influences Ali’s contribution to world history and status as an American icon.

Ali, who was stripped of his title, spent a short period behind bars and was unable to fight for three years because of his refusal to be inducted into the United States Army while objecting to the Vietnam War on religious grounds as a member of the Nation of Islam, had worn the U.S. colors in Rome where he won the 1960 Light Heavyweight Gold Medal in the Olympics. While everyone in the United States has a right to express political opinion, his actions at that time were different than those who actually dodged the draft, because he publicly stood for his principles and accepted the consequences. Then, in 1990 as the standoff between the United States and Saddam Hussein’s Iraq built up to the Persian Gulf War, Ali traveled to Iraq as a Muslim on behalf of the United States and negotiated the release of some American citizens being held hostage in the American Embassy. These two events, along with his illustrious career including winning the Heavyweight Championship three times and becoming the most recognizable sports figure in the world, make him one of the most legendary American celebrity figures ever. His Irish ancestry mixed with his African identity also reflects the social and cultural history of the United States, where African and Irish intermingled from the beginning and by no exaggeration largely built our country together.

I was first made aware of Ali’s visit to Ennis, County Clare by an email received from my friend and colleague, Ger Regan, publisher of The Wild Geese today, http://www.thewildgeese.com/, an Irish Diaspora website. In early August he forwarded a press release to me that he’d received from another contact. On September 2 ESPN published a story on its website along with video coverage from Ireland.Ali’s wife, Yolanda, is quoted saying she believes if Abe Grady were alive today he’d be in every pub bragging about his champion boxer grandson, and that Ali’s poetic abilities that so enhanced his boxing persona and accentuated his skills are probably attributable to his descending from the Grady Clan.