Jordan became the world’s most popular athlete in the decade after Muhammad Ali held that title. They couldn’t be more different, except in the fact that they were both black men. That isn’t insignificant. They were the most visible black men in the world and used that platform in vastly different ways. Ali spoke to the condition of his people in the United States, becoming an ambassador for human rights the world over while remaining rooted in a black American tradition of resistance. Jordan sold sneakers.
