Raging Dove
Tonight I fell asleep in front of the TV. Incredibly rare thing since I never watch the tube. I fell asleep watching PBS and when I woke up there was an Arab kid beating the snot of a white kid somewhere in Tennessee in a boxing ring. I dozed off and the next time I woke up this kid was fighting for the world championship. In a haze my brain searched through my boxing archives and found no records of an Israeli-Palestinian-American world boxing champion. At least that’s what my brain had been led to believe.
Raging Dove is the story of such a champion, Johar Abu Lashin,. an incredible human being whose beautiful boxing career was cut short due to racism, ignorance, greed, and the lies of politicians in Palestine, Israel, and the United States as well as the shady politics of the boxing world. It is a story of finding self identity, and fighting for the things you believe in and seeking home.
The filmmaker was a little scattered when making this film and it would had hurt the film had the story not been as powerful as it is. The trailer makes the film no justice, and I just hope that you can check it out at some point because it’ll be one of the best stories of a man you should know, a man who sacrificed his life for his ‘home’ countries and all of them turned their back on him.
I’m so moved and lucky to have caught this film. Johar is a real life hero.
