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Shaneeka Harrell: All I knew about Muhammad Ali was that I saw him on T-shirts on 125th Street in Harlem, next to Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. I didn't know why. I didn't know crap about Muhammad Ali's life and I was born here [in Miami].I like to work when I have a question. The answer brings on more questions. The stories that people have about Ali being here… I have a story of my pops meeting [Ali] at an IHOP. Everybody older than 60, if they lived in Miami proper, they have something to say about [Ali's time here]. I unlocked a door, and I didn't know what was behind it. It was like I opened a time capsule.
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I didn't know the richness of Miami black history. We were boycotting and doing sit-ins at restaurants before they were doing that in Alabama. I didn't know how rich and progressive our town was. It was called Colored Town. There was something very important for me to say about [Ali] being in Miami before he blew up. It's like everyone wants to know what happened the night before Martin Luther King got shot. I wanted to talk about this young man living in this vibrant city. I would love to take this [show] to a youth center in our town. These kids need to know about what you can do it Miami.RELATED: Watch our documentary on bare-knuckle boxing.Did you train in boxing to prepare for the show?"Ali wanted to usher in humanity. Ali fought, and not just in the ring." —Shaneeka Harrell
I actually did, bro. It was the hardest thing I've done in my entire life. I could've come at it from a theater or dancing way, researched the character and blah blah blah. But I wanted to know how it felt. There's something about the training, the rhythm and repetition, that was really interesting. Everyone's heard the story that Muhammad Ali came over here to Liberty City to train. He ran 6 miles each day on the 395 Causeway and ran forwards one way and backwards the other. I wanted to run to know what that felt like. I wanted to jump rope.When I got to the gym, that's when shit got real. Because there's a style and a form, just like there's a form to dancing. There's something beautiful about boxing. There are all these different things to do with your body, and it's amazing to see how Muhammad Ali did none of it. So I had to do orthodox boxing training, and then unlearn that.
I tried to keep it as close to Ali's words as possible. He's a poet. I wanted his words. I feel like there's a correlation between his fight and my fight. This is a 20 year old man who's saying, "Don't look at me as a fighter, but as an artist."In your show, you compare Ali with Tupac. Why?
They're both [poets and] artists at the forefront [of their fields]. If you're in the forefront of anything, you can use that for good or not good. Ali wanted to usher in humanity. Ali fought, and not just in the ring. If you have a position, use it. Speak the truth, even when it shakes.While the current run of "From the Corner of Cassius Clay" is complete, Harrell plans to perform the show again in the future. Find out more about her work on her website and follow Jonathan Peltz on Twitter.