General Colin Powell Visits the Ali Center

General Colin Powell (Ret.), who was in Louisville to speak at a World Affairs Council event, made a brief stop at the Muhammad Ali Center on Thursday, April 3.  General Powell watched the orientation film and experienced several of the other award-winning exhibits that tell culturally significant stories of the historic era in U.S. history in which Powell and Ali both lived.  This era included the Vietnam War, and it is a known fact that both men made different decisions – Powell joined the military and Muhammad was a conscientious objector.

General Powell has said, “He stood up and said this is something I cannot do and I will take whatever consequences come from that decision.  I admire that in a man.  Even though I wished he made a different decision, it was an example of moral courage, it was an example of standing up for what you believe in.”  Although their lives took different paths, Powell and Ali both share the honor of being awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom (Powell has received the honor twice), which is the nation’s highest civilian award.

In the early stages of the Ali Center’s development, General Powell participated in a promotional videotape in which he expressed his respect for Muhammad.  Powell said, “Fighting was his profession, peace was his passion.  And that is the Ali legacy.”

General Powell is currently serving as Founding Chair, alongside his wife Alma who is Board Chair, of America’s Promise Alliance.  The Alliance is the nation’s largest multi-sector collaborative organization dedicated to the success and well-being of children and youth.  Alma and General Colin Powell, along with U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, Senator Jeff Bingaman, and Senator Richard Burr, recently launched a new initiative to further help the future of youth in America - the Alliance Dropout Prevention Campaign.  Over the next five years, the campaign will work to improve high school completion rates starting with providing support for 50 state and 50 city dropout prevention summits to be held by 2010.