Khalilah Ali, activist and author, has stepped up her latest humanitarian effort- to raise awareness about the plight of Rohingya refugees and the need for U.S support for the persecuted community.
The former wife of legendary boxer Muhammad Ali was on the Capitol Hill, where she urged lawmakers on a more active U.S. role to end Myanmar’s “barbaric” crackdown against the Muslim minority.
“They (Myanmar military) are killing innocent citizens. The people have no guns, the (Myanmar) military has weapons, and they are beating people to the ground barbarically,” Ali said, days after the United Nations castigated Myanmar for perpetrating a “texbook” example of ethnic cleansing with violence against the Rohingyas.
She was speaking at the residence of a Pakistani-American, Doctor Maqsood Chaudhry, who hosted Ali during her trip to the nation’s capital.
Ali met with members of U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, saying the U.S. should increase its support for hapless refugees as they face hostile forces within Myanmar or pour into neighboring Bangladesh.
“As we speak now, they (Rohingyas) are being killed. This is something that has to be a class action mission, this has to be stopped,” she told Views and News in an interview.
Ali said she came away from U.S. Congress with a sense that the lawmakers are cognizant of the catastrophic situation in Myanmar but lamented that not many in the international community know enough about the scale of violence against the Rohingya community.
“We need more media (coverage). And this will give you more action,” said Ali who flew back to Florida after a series of meetings in Washington metro area.
She vowed an unflinching personal commitment to the issue. “I can’t sleep at night knowing what these people are going through.”
Host Dr. Chaudhry, who often dedicates weekends to humanitarian causes, appealed to the gathering of interfaith leaders, entrepreneurs and community activists to support efforts toward a fund-raising event to help mitigate the sufferings of Rohingya refugees.
Mahomed Akbar Khan, founding director of Society to Offer Prosperity and Peace, apprised the gathering of the unspeakable conditions of Rohingyas, who are facing state persecution while the Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi remains silent over the massacres taking place before her eyes.
Khalilah Ali also shared some memories of her relationship with Muhammad Ali, lifting spirits of the participants at the gathering from the somber accounts of ongoing persecution in Myanmar.
For instance, she recalled their first meeting when she was just ten and Ali was 18. The champion-in-the-making gave her a paper with his autograph on it, saying soon he would be a famous person, defeat Sonny Liston and be the world heavyweight champion, and that the little girl would cherish that she had an autograph of a famous figure.
But the young Khalilah dismissed Ali as a boy making some very big claims.
When they met again when Khalialah was 13, she recalled, how she objected to the name Cassias Clay, citing the unenviable impression of the Romans linked to that name.
Khalilah Ali, a born Muslim, also related memories of the days when the young Clay embraced Islam.
She also read out a poem written about the legend of Clay before the champion’s fight with scary Liston – not long before Clay became champion of the world and emerged as Muhammad Ali to start an epic story of global reputation through his personal prowess, achievements and star-power aura.
