Dear Ali Family,

We have learned with great sadness and shock that dictator Recep Tayyip Erdogan will make a speech at Mr. Muhammad Ali’s funeral.

First, we share in your loss. It is our loss as well. He is a great example of struggle for freedom, democracy, equality and justice. We are his brothers and sisters in that struggle, trying to achieve them in Turkey.

Yet Mr. Erdogan is a dictator with all of the benefits of that title. He sows animosity, division and hatred among all citizens and discriminates even more against non-Sunni groups. He steals from them. He has jailed many thousand, including children. His actions and outright orders have caused the deaths of many many people, including children and he has spoken about it, publicly, as if he took pleasure in ordering the deaths because they belonged to a different religious sect than him.

We hear President Obama may attend and King Abdullah of Jordan will make a speech. President Obama has said ‘a failure and an authoritarian’ about Erdogan recently and King Abdullah said” Erdogan is deliberately 'unleashing' Isis terrorists into Europe.”

If Muhammad Ali were to just be Muhammad Ali in Erdogan's regime, he would be beaten, jailed and maybe even killed. He is everything Muhammed Ali stood against for and fought against all his life. He is what Islam describes as the “devil” himself.

His only intention for making a speech at the funeral is to give his dictatorship legitimacy by using Muhammad Ali’s legacy.

Don’t let him do that. Don’t destroy Muhammad Ali’s legacy by providing a platform for a dictator. Don’t be a tool to perpetuate this evil person’s crimes against humanity.

We encourage our friends all over the world to protest Erdogan wherever he may be until freedom comes. We will share your loss. We will mourn Muhammad Ali, and we will always respect him. But we will encourage our friends in the Louisville area to protest Erdogan if he comes.

Please don’t stain Muhammad Ali’s legacy and funeral. Don’t let Erdogan in Louisville.