There is something deeply unsettling about watching a man tell the world who he is — clearly, publicly, repeatedly — only for that to be ignored once he’s no longer alive to correct it.
Muhammad Ali told journalists, on camera, not to call him “Cassius Clay.”
He explained why. He called it his slave name. He rejected it with intention, dignity, and conviction.
So to continue using that name in tributes today — especially in spaces that claim to honour his legacy — is not harmless nostalgia or “history.” It is deadnaming. It is erasure. And it is a choice.
A dead name is a dead name.
We don’t get to selectively respect identity depending on whose identity it is.
This is especially painful when you understand the history behind it — the forced stripping of names, cultures, and self-definition from Black Americans during the transatlantic slave trade. Ali didn’t just change his name; he reclaimed himself. He embraced Islam, chose his own identity, and became a global icon known to the world as Muhammad Ali.
If we say we honour him, then we honour the name he chose.
Respect should not expire with someone’s life.
I’ve shared my thoughts — and the video of Ali saying this himself — on X.
https://x.com/dayaxa_sarexx/status/2015913644660302327?s=46
