The Ali Scholars Program celebrates the Grawemeyer Spirit Award to Muhammad Ali

The Ali Scholars Program of the Muhammad Ali Institute for Peace and Justice had the privilege of participating in the Grawemeyer Spirit Award presentation to Muhammad Ali on September 17, 2015.  The 2015-17 Ali Scholars include:  Yomna Amer, Mariam Ba, De’Anna Benson, Kala Brown, Kayla Bryant, Madeline Clabough, Cortez Flippins, Temis Jimenez-Anaya, Jacob Markert, Wesley Turner, Karen Udoh, and Maya White.

Several Ali Scholars were part of a video presentation talking about the ways in which Muhammad Ali inspires them.  Current Ali Scholars Mariam Ba and Cortez Flippins were featured in the video.  Third year Ali Scholar, Mahogany Mayfield, also was in the video.   The videos can be viewed here: Igniting Inspiration and Bettering the World

We are proud of our contribution to the inaugural Grawemeyer Spirit Award to Muhammad Ali who inspires our work of the Ali Institute.  As Howard Fineman noted in his welcome to the audience at the event,  “Muhammad Ali spoke up for Black pride and spoke out for racial justice”  and “transformed his celebrity into a bullhorn for those less fortunate in the world.”

The Ali Scholar Program provides leadership training is a unique two-year experience involving research and hands-on local community action on social and racial justice issues, violence prevention and peace building.  Ali Scholars build on this training by learning from local social justice groups about community action and promoting change, by hosting on-campus events about peace and social justice issues, by furthering the collaborative work of the Ali Institute and Ali Center, and by working alongside campus, local, national and international social justice actors.