A few days before Christmas, the news circulated about Muhammad Ali being recruited by a group called Hollywood 9/11. The group was encouraged by the U.S. government in a series of meetings to use their skills and ability to help America and its so-called war against terrorism. It was reported by the press and circulated throughout other media that Muhammad Ali will make a propaganda clip to be shown directly to the Arab and Muslim world. The information about it was quite straightforward. It is designed to encourage the outside world and the Muslim world, in particular, to see America�s point of view.

One problem with this for Ali, the Black American community and especially the many millions of Black American Muslims, is that we do not know what the next move of the Bush administration is in this war against terrorism. Another problem is that neither the Black American community, nor its leadership have been involved in the foreign policy of the United States government. We only react to the policy set out by the government. We have no voice in making or determining foreign policy nor its direction. I think that it�s criminal to use Muhammad Ali in this way.

Ali, as a Muslim is loved by not only his people in America, but he is loved and respected by more than a 1.5 billion Muslims around the world. The words given to him by the scriptwriters and translated into the languages spoken by Muslims around the world may represent a gamble for Ali if he is not acquainted with the facts. Ali has to understand that the scriptwriters are the same ones in the recent past who have vilified Arabs and Muslims in films, which were presented to the American public. Their mindset is not to protect the image of Ali or Islam, but to promote the image of America. If this war should continue and the American people become dissatisfied with the war as they did with the Vietnam conflict, then potentially this poses a conflict for Muhammad Ali as a champion in the Black community and as one of our heroes.

We all know that with Ali�s battle with Parkinson�s disease, it is difficult for him to speak in a clear manner. His mind is clear, but the disease makes it difficult for him to articulate what he wants to say. A consultant for the Hollywood 9/11 group members stated that Ali�s presence would not relieve them of having to tread carefully. Mr. Hossein Ziai, director of Iranian studies at the University of California in Los Angeles stated, "If it is something that, let us say, comes out as if he is either insensitive or co-opted, that could lead to some sort of a negative impact." Doing an ad for Coke as Ali has done for the outside world is different from doing an ad for an ongoing war in the Muslim world where thousands of innocent men, women and children may be killed and written off as collateral damage.

Jack Valenti, President of the Motion Picture Association of America, one of the members of Hollywood 9/11, considered a Muhammad Ali ad as just one of several ideas to promote the image that America freely accepts Islam and the Muslim way of life. They would like to position him as a spokesman for Muslims in America. The problem with this is that Ali has never claimed to be a spokesman for Muslims in America. Also, many Muslims may have a different opinion about whether they feel free to practice their religion in America as Hollywood 9/11 would like to project to the rest of the world, especially in light of thousands of Muslims being imprisoned, cut off from families and the right to an attorney because of their names and religion. Recently, one of Bush�s secret service agents with an Arabic name became a victim of racial profiling and was ejected from a commercial airline just before take off.

One of the reasons that Ali should just say no is the fact that Muslim charities have been attacked and accounts frozen. For the many poor Muslims who have benefited from these charities, they do not see the charities supporting terrorism, but supporting the needy. This again produces a problem for America�s credibility in the Muslim world as well as Muslims in America. Muhammad Ali has to take all of this into consideration before he gives his consent to do a public relations piece for Hollywood 9/11.

Ali, just say no. There are other opportunities for you to help. Let it be on your terms, not something designed by Hollywood. I have watched the ability of Hollywood to build and dismantle leaders. They have the ability to influence people who are not familiar with certain periods of history, causing the viewer to accept the image projected on the screen by Hollywood.

In the movie Ali, Will Smith did an excellent job in his role as Muhammad Ali. However, the portrayal of President Mobutu of Zaire and the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, I feel, was terrible. Mobutu was projected as a thin, frail and feeble old man but at the time he was not. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad was given a foreign accent instead of a Georgia accent, which was his home. The whole projection of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad vis-�-vis Ali was a distortion of the leader of the Nation of Islam. If they could find someone such as Marvin Gaye�s daughter who looks so much like Khalilah, Ali�s second wife, then surely they could have found a man that looked more like the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and Mobutu.

My appeal is that Muhammad Ali should just say no. Wait, be patient and see how things unfold before making this kind of commitment to Hollywood 9/11. There are a lot of famous athletes in America who are known throughout the world. It just so happens that this famous athlete is a Muslim. In the movie Ali, when Will Smith walked out of the courtroom and stated a litany of reasons why he should not fight for America in the conflict in Vietnam, the entire audience broke out in applause. He was talking about the plight and struggle of Black Americans at that time and even today.

Since 9/11, the plight, struggle, suffering and pain of our communities across this country have been pushed off the front burner. If Muhammad Ali says no to Hollywood 9/11 then he should say yes that I want to fight for prison reform. I want to do something to liberate the nearly two million Black men and women in prisons across America. I want to say yes to the battle against the menace of crack cocaine. I want to work to see that young brilliant Black American students can get into college and stay in college. I want to do something about the dilemma of the single parent homes. Black women now are pushed off welfare and forced to fend for themselves. Say yes, I want to fight to get one brother off death row and have another brother who has a long history in struggle, Jamil Al-Amin (H. Rapp Brown) receive justice in the case which he is facing. I want to see that Brother Mumia Abu Jamal is liberated. I�d like to see Ali become a champion for reparations across America. Ali can use his tremendous connections to open business opportunities in Africa and the Caribbean. He can also use his connections and image in the fight against AIDS in America and Africa. There is much that Muhammad Ali can do to make an impact on the struggling Black masses in America and Black people throughout the world without allowing Hollywood 9/11 to package him for Bush�s war on terrorism

Ali, just say no.