re: Mohammad Ali a draft dodger?

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But once they were drafted, they were skewed heavily into combat units. As a result, black casualties soared to over 20% of total dead/wounded through 1966 -- double the individual white rate.

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True but mostly due to skill set.

I am willing to wager poor whites fared even worse but that does not fir the narrative.

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Without Ali, would LBJ have taken that action? Who knows. But tossing Ali in a pot with coward draft dodgers is not fair at all IMO

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Ali was never a good person. He treated women with utter disrespect and was terrible to others. Never showed much real concern for his religion at all. And slipping out of the draft so some poor other black guy could go isn’t courage.

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But tossing Ali in a pot with coward draft dodgers is not fair at all IMO.

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This, x 1,000.

Ali didn't run off to Canada. He sought to use the laws afforded to him and any other person seeking conscientious objector status, and he worked through the court system to get a resolution.

Here is perhaps his most famous comment on the subject:

"“Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on Brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights? No I’m not going 10,000 miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over. This is the day when such evils must come to an end. I have been warned that to take such a stand would cost me millions of dollars. But I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of my people is here. I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality. If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22 million of my people they wouldn’t have to draft me, I’d join tomorrow. I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I’ll go to jail, so what? We’ve been in jail for 400 years.”

Ali refused to be drafted in 1966, not 2019. His question about why he should be required to sacrifice his life in Viet Nam when he didn't enjoy basic freedoms at home was valid.