Rumble Young Man Rumble (Version #2)

Glenn Ligon, Byron Kim — Tue, 01 Jun 1993 00:00:00 -0400

Title	Rumble Young Man Rumble (Version #2)
Artist	Glenn Ligon, Byron Kim
Date	1993
Institution	Walker Art Center
Location	Not on view.

Punching bag covered with text by Muhammad Ali. Text reads: "Everything that the so-called Negro do in America seem to be the best, the greatest. So what's wrong with him saying he is the greatest when everything in America that has been painted and colored white. Like, Jesus is white. Santa Claus is white. Tarzan, King of the Jungle, he's white. miss Universe is white. Miss World is white. When you go to Heaven you walk on a milky white way. Before you go to Heaven you walk on a milky white way. Before you go to Heaven you washed in lamb's blood, he's white as snow, they say. They teach us in T. V. commercials: there's White House Cigars, White Swan Soap, White Cloud Tissue Paper, White Rain Hair Rinse, White Tornado Floor Wax. Everything seems to be white: I'm dreaming of a white Christmas; angel hair is white; angel food cake is white and devil's food cake is dark; and Mary had a little lamb, his fleece was white as snow. So everything the greatest so far has been white and these are just falsehoods of white supremacy. So now that we have a man in America today, Elijah Muhammad, who teaches us that we are the greatest, and it is a fact they cannot prove that we are not the greatest, so I don't see why the need for commotion and the trouble over people are saying that they're the greatest, what's wrong with that? So if you the greatest, you just the greatest until proven wrong."