As Ali said himself:

" If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22 million of my people they wouldn’t have to draft me, I’d join tomorrow. I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I’ll go to jail, so what? We’ve been in jail for 400 years.”

I think if a few more people since then had acted with that kind of integrity the world wouldn't be in the mess it is today