- - Six years ago today, Muhammad Ali passed away after a lengthy battle with Parkinson's disease that lasted 32 years.

On this day, we didn't just lose one of the best athletes who ever lived.

Muhammad Ali was much more than an athlete.

We lost one of the most remarkable men who ever lived.

Time and time again, Ali symbolized precisely what it means to be a hero.

When push came to shove, Ali always put action behind his words and was willing to sacrifice everything for his people.

As he watched his brothers and sisters face the evils of racism and poverty, rather than turn his head, he spoke out louder than anyone else.

Muhammad Ali was always very rebellious towards the white oppressors, but in the year 1964, he doubled down.

In 1964 Ali publicly converted to Islam and even went on to change his name from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali.

For a while, the media refused to refer to him with his new name.

Ali said, "Cassius Clay is a slave name.

I didn't choose it, and I don't want it .

I am Muhammad Ali , a free name- it means beloved of God, and I insist people use it when people speak to me" when he was asked why he changed his name.

From then on, it was set in stone; he had rebranded himself completely.

Fast forward to 1966, Ali was selected in the draft for the Vietnamese war and refused to serve.

Ali came to Vietnam's defense and was on record saying, "shoot them for what?

They never called me nigger; they never lynched me, they never put no dogs on me, they didn't rob me of my nationality.

Raped and killed my mother and father.

Shoot them for what?

How could I go shoot them poor people?

Just take me to jail!".

Shortly after, Ali was found guilty of "draft evasion" and was relieved of his boxing titles and in jeopardy of serving five years in prison.

He appealed the supreme court saying his ethical and religious beliefs prevented him from serving.

After an extensive five-year trial, the supreme court repealed its conviction in 1971, and Ali did not have to serve any time in jail or in the military.

Not only was Muhammad Ali morally sound, nobody could own a room quite like Muhammad Ali.

He had a charm to him that America had never seen before.

Ali always conveyed exactly what he was thinking in the most consumable way.

It came so easy to him that he would often practice his poetry mid-conversation.

Today we show our appreciation to the great Muhammad Ali.

A man who held his values close to his convictions and clenched them both in his fists as he knocked out his opponents and pushed for equality.