Allegations of Ali's funeral being “whitewashed” were widespread, and many of the black figures who brought Ali into Islam were excluded from the fallen champion's funeral. Ironically, the funeral of the most famous Muslim American in history, a black man equally remembered for his fierce and unrelenting assault on racism and his in-ring feats, replicated the erasure that has loomed over black Muslims since the earliest stages of this country's history.

SEED: An essay on how commemorations of iconic figures—even of those defined by their fight against erasure—can replicate the very erasure they opposed, and what exclusionary funeral/legacy practices reveal about whose narratives get centered.

Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Unde…, loc. 418