Avery Brundage was a racist, Nazi sympathizer. He knew EXACTLY what he was doing. In fact, Brundage saw to it that Marty Glickman, an accomplished American JEWISH track star did NOT get to participate in the 1936 Nazi Olympic Games in Berlin. Brundage didn't want to "embarrass" Hitler by allowing a non-Aryan to beat any of Hitler's "uber menschen." Brundage was the one who should have been kicked out of the Olympic Village, not Smith and Carlos. The racism that still permeates the U.S. is a direct result of U.S. slavery and the Jim Crow era. Racism is NOT a "mistake" that somehow "invaded" U.S. politics. Racism has been official policy ever since 1776.
It's NOT just Trump - it's capitalism!!!
[email protected]
24
Google my late great brother Pete Axthelm on this. He was right in the thick of it. It was a very exciting time.
2
"When Norman died in 2006, still unfairly neglected, Smith and Carlos stood up one more time, as his pallbearers."
Classy guys.
Ironically, try to remember who won the Olympics 200 from 1960 to date. They're all great. But I only remember one: Tommie Smith.
16
I'm glad they protested. It has probably taken too long for us (me included) to get on board the train for human rights. Look what our current government is doing to strip away the rights of citizens to access to healthcare, transferring the burden of paying for the national debt to poor people, giving the banks carte blanche, etc. Look what our government did to encourage the Saudis to dismember one of their own citizens within the embassy of Turkey. It is a mess.
9
Even as a five-year-old I remember how mad my father--who fought for his country on Iwo Jima--was. Something was wrong. It stays with me throughout my life. I'm grateful the fists were raised. I'm grateful to those who take a knee. I have fought to understand my father and those men.
12
Political courage is not judged by the color of one's skin. The cowards who judge those who exercise their constitutional rights under the 1st Amendment fail to earn the right to be called American. Misters Smith and Carlos showed the world how America exercises freedom.
16
No matter how much change occurs in the world, it remarkable how much stays the same. There will always be a struggle between those who work hard to achieve their goals and those who use raw power suppress the worthy.
I found it ironic that brundage was a nazi sympathizer and America Firster just like fred trump. One more reason that my support for Carlos and Smith in my formative years during the '60's was retrospectively so right.
The fat orange clown king's warped sense of patriotism in denying the rights of black athletes is just one of many of his Un-American family traits.
21
It's also interesting to note that the 1968 Olympics was the one where George Foreman won a heavyweight boxing gold medal and celebrated by running around the ring and waving a small American flag out of love for his country.
4
Instead of faulting the rest of us for getting the details wrong, perhaps the protestors could articulate more specific goals than just being anti oppression. Not that that is an unworthy goal, but it seems intrinsically suited to be perpetual (sadly).
3
I was 15 years old. My parents took me and my sister to the Olympics in Mexico to see the swimming events. It was my first trip out of the US. Hundreds of students had been murdered by the government a few weeks earlier. The US was in turmoil. Our own hometown, Pasadena, was embroiled in a battle over school integration. On that trip, I met people from all over the world who shared a live of sports. I cheered for athletes of all nations, and celebrated their victories with people I met. I learned on that trip that all humans have inherent worth and dignity. It truly set my life on its course.
I was so proud of Tommie Smith and John Carlos! They stood for justice, and for freedom of speech. I have followed both of them ever since then. Smith spoke a few years ago at my community’s annual Martin Luther King Day observance, and it was an honor to be there.
30
It's good to be reminded of the history of the phrase "America First". Stephen Miller, and whoever else is advising Trump know exactly what they're doing, what they're trying to communicate, and to who.
50 years after this photo, and nearly nothing has changed.
17
George Foreman won the heavy weight boxing gold medal in that Olympics. He ran around inside the ring afterwards waving a small American flag as a political demonstration. No one criticized him for that political act. No one ostracized him for it afterwards. Standing with your head uncovered and your hand over your heart is every bit as much a political statement as taking a knee. The three brave men in the story held up a mirror to the citizens of their respective countries, and the wielders of power were frightened by what they saw there.
60
I remember watching this live, and my father complaining as it was happening about Brundage being a Nazi. Smith and Carlos are heroes.
29
What a strangely constructed discourse. The primary point or message of the Olympians now twice obscured, once by the subjective multivalence of their public expression, and now again by Mr. Widmer, who frames the athletes'self-referential expression as a retrospective apologetic that but for Widmer would remain negatively ambiguous. We werent/arent mindreaders. But how were Americans to divine the subjective intent of the Smith & Carlos? Consider:
"They were far less excited when Tommie Smith and John Carlos acted out their own ritual of protest."
"Brundage denounced Smith and Carlos for their 'warped mentalities' and complained loudly about the 'nasty demonstration against the American flag by Negroes,' as if 'Negroes' were not fully American. That was exactly the point Smith and Carlos were trying to make."
"In his autobiography, Smith explained that he sought to make a 'human rights salute,' not a black power salute. 'We were concerned about the lack of black assistant coaches,' he said. 'About how Muhammad Ali got stripped of his title. About the lack of access to good housing and our kids not being able to attend the top colleges.'”
2
They were an embarrassment then, putting personal grievance ahead of their home and country. Today's kneelers are the same. If this is how people think you can change the hearts and minds of patriotic Americans, they are mistaken. Your propaganda aside.
9
As Trump and others have pointed out, these players are indeed privileged (by their wealth, if not by their race). It is not personal grievances that are motivating them.
3
@MFW Taking a stand for those who are discriminated against in their own country is putting a personal grievance ahead of their home and county? I suggest they are supporting the values on which our country was founded. You know...that old "[a]ll men are created equal..." thing.
49
They were an embarrassment then and they're an embarrassment now.
1
Two photographs I’ll never forget - the heroic if impromptu protest on the medal stand and the young, horrified woman kneeling by her classmate lying dead on the ground at the hands of the Ohio National Guard. This white man knew the significance of both.
59
For anyone interested, Peter Norman's nephew, Matt Norman has written a book from the Norman viewpoint. Matt Norman was recently comprehensively interviewed on Australian radio. The link to the 51 minute podcast is:
https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/conversations/conversations-matt-n...
19
Colin Kaepernick. These fellows. No one comes close to Curt Flood. He was a rebel with a cause.
1
This was just one of many episodes in my life that has taught me how journalism should be separated from the media. The media, as exemplified by Musberger's ad hominems didn't bother to ask the three men even what they had intended to say, only to trash their use of words. Journalism, on the other hand seeks to describe truth and not just promulgate its practitioner's and patron's own version of reality. I would like to know what Opinions the NY Times had at the time. At this point, the author is unraveling 40 years of justice and journalism being denied.
11
Two real heroes in the last century are not soldiers wielding weapons nor Olympic athletes....instead, they are the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and Mahatma Gandhi. These two real heroes stood on their religious beliefs and principles in order to bring about justice and freedom to millions of American Blacks and millions of people in India....and in the end, sacrificed their very own lives. Neither of these two heroes were promoting violence.
5
I was 14 years old when this happened. The previous summer had been the summer of urban rebellion in the US. Our TV's were full of images of burning buildings but the final news report was always the same: How many blacks killed vs. how many police or others. In 1968 life had moved on. Now it was all about how many Vietnamese were killed vs. how many US soldiers killed. 1967 was old, forgotten, no longer news. When I saw these men, I saw the connection.
11
We should all be wearing one black glove and holding our fist in the air to protest the world's system of beliefs. Instead of becoming more enlightened with technological advances, we are now sliding into a second Dark Ages, using beliefs instead of our inherent power to reason. In the near future, we will program the human mind in the computer, and this will be based on a "survival" algorithm. This will provide us with irrefutable proof of how we have tricked the mind with our ridiculous beliefs about just what is supposed to survive- producing minds now programmed de facto for destruction. When we understand this, we will begin the long trek back to reason and sanity. See RevolutionOfReason.com
3
So at the end of the Sixties there were people who did not understand the power salute? Who, Fred and Donald Trump?
4
Please...
God bless America
Land that I love
Stand beside her
And guide her
Through the night with the light from above...
1
A thorough report includes available material and integrates it for a more nuanced and accurate story. How much of this information, such as Brundage's interactions with Nazis, was accessible in 1968? Could journalists and commentators such as Brent Musberger have uncovered it had they bothered to look?
5
At the time, it was clear why they raised their fists, and it is clear now why they raised their fists. They were demonstrating a response to injustice. It was, and is, the right thing to do. Aren't Americans guaranteed the right peaceably to demonstrate?
15
I was 11 years old when Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fists. I didn't understand their protest then, but I have come to regard that famous photo as one of the iconic portraits of American history, right up there with the Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima.
In their own way, Smith and Carlos were saying what Martin Luther King had said when he challenged America to "rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed, 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.' "
Those whose were uncomfortable with that challenge chose deliberately to misinterpret Smith's and Carlos's protest as disrespectful to the national anthem and to the country itself.
We see the same today - those who are uncomfortable with protests against police shootings of African-Americans deliberately misconstrue those protests to be disrespectful of the flag, and of the country.
The civil rights movement, including its use of protest and civil disobedience in pursuit of equality in a multi-racial state, is one of the great intellectual achievements of American civilization. The photo of Smith and Carlos on the Olympic medal stand should fill us all with pride.
politicsbyeccehomo.wordpress.com
159
@Ecce Homo Hear, Hear.
5
@Ecce Homo The photo is on my office wall, an image of courage that helps keep my spirits up in dark times.
24
A raised fist isn't a protest. It's a threat. When you raise your fist you express a willingness to use it. Anybody who says otherwise is sugarcoating. I don't know what those involved have to say, but I was 14 and it was clear to me that this was about anger and it was meant to be frightening. It was a statement to the world that the US was failing its black population, and back people were done playing games.
4
I do not like ritual in general; forced ritual in particular. We should be free from forced rituals and have freedom of expressing our own rituals.
1
There was a great piece on ABC Radio (Australia) recently on Peter Norman. His Nephew Matt Norman has written a book about him, and did a fascinating interview about Peter's life, and the consequences of his snap decision to support the two African-American athletes. Full audio here: https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/overnights/peter-norman/10361118
2
Thank you for this piece. As someone who watched it live this image is permanently etched in my memory. Even in the smallish town I lived in this was a very hot topic. Despite its' non slave state status and battle born mythology, the Nevada was pretty bigoted. The black community was pretty much ghettoized into a location known as Carver Park(where I lived) or on the West Side in LV. So Smith and Carlos spoke to power in the only way that made sense, in prime time with every laxative or car manufacturing paying the freight. Irony? Don't know, but it was a great show. I applaud their courage and thank them for what they did.
6
The irony of Trump regularly raising his fist at his rallies in his own celebration of his perceived power should not be lost on anyone. What Smith and Carlos opposed is exactly what Trump supports.
7
It is interesting to read these comments. Most understand the article. Most understand the gesture of the raised fist. They are true heroes.
Then there are those who "do not understand" and believe that the athletes are being disrespectful towards the flag and what it stands for. They believe the two athletes are demeaning what this country stands for. Just as they think about Colin Kaepernick and others. But in reality it is those people who are the problem. They demean the flag with their behavior. It is those people who cannot see that non-white Americans are not treated equally. Nor do they understand that non-white Americans do not have the same opportunities as whites. And they do not care. They are the real problem.
14
Funny, I always felt looking at this photo that their salute was for human rights, not for anything else. I think it is transmitted without words in their body language. Great article.
5
Peaceful protest by Black Americans always seems to inflame the passions of many of the nation's white peoples. Certainly not all white peoples, but enough that systemic racism is still poisoning and dividing too many of us. The NFL players who have had the courage and conviction to take a knee during the national anthem have strong shoulders to stand on. I just hope that more and more of us can appreciate what these Black athletes are protesting and why. I hope that as time goes on we react less and listen more.
13
The concept of tribal belonging is a long running planetary theme. But it's us against them, not a cohesive group of different peoples. This is most epitomized by tribes of nations wherein nationalism and patriotism is a potent driver of belonging and also hate. These two dared to question the overt racism in the US at a time MLK had just been murdered by a white man. Instead of pondering the reality of racism, most Americans clung to the tribe of US blind patriotism equating questioning racism with disrespect for country, for tribe. Just as they do today with sports demonstrations. Just as they do rejecting LGBTQ as not part of the straight tribe. The wrongs stemming from tribe adherence seem to outweigh the benefits and it is ever thus on this planet.
4
I was eight years old at the time and remember how scandalized my mother was. She was a very self-conscious progressive, going to anti war demonstrations, taking a black history class at the local university . I was very impressed by the protest. The Australian's participation was under-emphasized at the time. Had people understood his role it might have lessened the Black Panther hysteria that so affected my mother. The biggest real scandal was the massacre of the Mexican university students, which to this day has never received appropriate public notice.
6
Jim Crow lives, unfortunately for Americans of color. What Smith and Carlos did in 1968 resonates today because many of the same conditions continue to exist and worsen. But now we have a president and a party running the country who both seem intent upon destroying every social welfare program they can, not because they are going to replace them with something better but, again, because they can and because they despise anyone who isn't rich.
Brundage and America overreacted to the what Smith and Carlos did. While it isn't the same sort of thing, there was a similar reaction to Christine Blasey Ford's accusations. She, like these two, couldn't have a good reason for what she did. In America, as in every other country, rebels are suspect. It takes courage to risk losing face in front of thousands of people. I don't think our current administration has one person in it that has that sort of courage.
10
Thanks so much, Ted, for an engaging and illuminating vignette from a long, complicated, and difficult history.
10
People have always believed that athletics should be sacrosanct especially the Olympic Games. However, since the Berlin Olympics of 1936 this event has often had political overtones. During the Civil Rights era when the 1968 Olympics took place many white people refused to believe the extent of racism throughout our society. "Kill the Messenger" was the attitude of the hierarchy of the Games. Despite their Olympic success Smith and Carlos paid dearly for their demonstration. Have times changed? Perhaps, a bit but the controversy over the National Anthem demonstrates that we haven't come as far as we think.
9
Timing is everything. Just yesterday I had a conversation with one of my colleagues about the meaning of the raised fist. I'm a teacher and some of my colleagues were offended when students used the fist as a symbol on a school flyer for an organization. I was asked to change the flyer but I am not going to. The students chose the symbol for what it represents. As a teacher and African American I agree with what it represents. If someone chooses to interpret it as something negative, then that's on them.
13
@Andrea
It’s up to you whether you agree with the raised fist. But it’s clearly an angry gesture and it communicates a threat. It is not an invitation to negotiation.
@michjas your use of the word "clearly" is the problem...its clear to you and how you see it. It's clear to me that I do not see or interpret it as an angry gesture or as a threat.
1
As a very wise old lady would constantly tell me, "that is only in your mind." Funny thing, she was correct!!! Constantly!
3
Thank you for this reminder that is not easy to do the right thing when that involves criticizing those in power. God bless these three men and those who follow them.
12
As an Australian, I am so proud of Peter Norman and the stand he took to support Smith & Carlos. To me, THIS is the kind of cross-cultural solidarity that events like the Olympic Games should embody.
It has taken the best part of five decades for Peter to be officially recognised by his mother country, though. Ironically, Norman was invited to the 2000 Sydney (Australia) Olympic Games as a guest of the USA Track & Field Federation. No Australian organisation extended him the same honour.
A statue of Peter Norman will be erected in his hometown next year.
23
@douggyi: Thanks for letting me know about the statue. My mom was from Melbourne and I have a fondness for down under.
2
The more things change, the more they stay the same. I remember well and saw them on TV. As a young Black adolescent, integrating a lilly white suburb at the time, I remember the pride I felt in their gesture. It, like the Panthers and so many more, was not violent. But whites were, and still are, so intent on criminalizing a whole race simply because they dare to be respected as human beings. The heroism that Smith and Carlos showed is still resonating today.
32
@H. Haskin
I remember the occasion and my curiosity about what it all meant. There was little in the press suggesting there was anything heroic about it. This vital and essential look back helps us confront our ignorance and reminds us that despite our worst efforts, history will have the last word. Thanks, Ted.
12
These athletes were true heroes for standing up for their beliefs. In these troubled times, when we have a president who spends an unusual amount of time criticizing athletes for speaking out, it is important to remember that.
13
Thank you for this powerful piece. Its message is timely and seemingly timeless. Those who don't understand have no desire to understand. The individual choices we make to become enlightened or to delude ourselves are purely personal.
12
As a formerly young person alive in the 1960s, thank you for recalling the context surrounding Smith and Carlos and their protest at the Olympics. I confess I did not know the story of their colleague, Peter Norman, and thank you for illuminating his role.
14
This image has always been what protest is about. It was a silent gesture that becomes so much clearer with the history behind it and the story of the individuals who had courage to make a statement. I grew up in the age of protesting a war. I grew up in the unrest of civil rights. It was a transforming time to witness what America stood for in freedom to speak out. What the NFL has been about is almost a sad contrast to what protest means.
In reading this I was struck by the story and not the picture. We as a country need stories like this so much these days. For me this picture is what makes America great. It was never offensive to me because I knew the times. I hope people who did not live in those times are refreshed as I have been when they read this piece. And I hope a lot of people read it.
23
I understand the perspective, but I don't see the need to celebrate something that amounts more or less to treason. It's just rewriting history to satisfy today's politics.
4
@Mike Livingston- That's the beauty of our country and the beauty of the NYT comment section. We can say or write inane things. I thank you for using the phrase, "more or less." I'll go with 'less.' Lots of 'less.' At the time, as an 18 year old whitey, I was outraged by the outrage of their gesture. I thought of it as an expression/demonstration regarding important issues then that are still with us now. So, for me it ain't rewriting nothing. Reread the article. I believe their motives, then, were to make our country better and not betraying one's country or overthrowing the government.
5
@Mike Livingston How in the world could raising a gloved fist be called treason? Treason has a meaning and it is about betraying one's country, usually by trying to overthrow it. Standing and saying something - with voice or stilled hand - is not only not treason, it is enshrined in our history. What entrenched negative bias against equality must you have to call what these athletes did anything other than peaceful, respectful protest? This was, in the way I infer you mean it, no "rewriting of history" - other than that all history is a rewrite of some kind - but an honest analysis of what happened with the benefit of time. This thoughtful, well researched article would have been written in this way regardless of "today's politics."
5
@Mike Livingston So let's see, treason. Did they call for the overthrow of the Federal government? Nope. Did they sell secrets to a hostile foreign power? Nope. Did they conspire with a foreign power to undermine an election in the US? Nope. Need I go on? They exercised their civil rights in a peaceful manner at great risk to their own safety. So where was the treason again?
Very interesting article. I'm old enough to remember the media's reaction in London, which was to characterise it as a Black Power salute; which clearly it wasn't.
It just shows (I'm speaking here as a marcomms specialist and professional political spin doctor) what happens when inexperienced people try to send a message through the media, without knowing that they have to be very carefully briefed in advance.
3
@BRENDAN BRUCE Which effectively silences all of us "inexperienced" people who can't pay for a spin doctor out front.
1
What an outstanding article; the writing as well as the content! Peter Norman has recently been in the news again here in Australia, and his is a story about which I previously had no knowledge, and only a peripheral understanding of Smith and Carlos' story.
It's a shameful blight on Australian history also that, despite the belated moves by our Government in 1962 to allow aboriginal Australians the same voting rights as other Australians, as well as the Constitutional amendments in 1967 to remove institutional discrimination against those same black 'citizens', we were still representing ourselves in the 1960s as a great, progressive egalitarian society. But even in 1968 and for many years afterwards, most of us still turned a blind-eye to the shameful treatment that Norman had to endure, almost to the end of his life, because of that courageous stand he took in support of Smith and Carlos. This included the effective hobbling of his sporting career. And Norman suffered in silence, which reflects as well on his character as it does poorly on those who put great effort into undermining him.
At least now we're making partial amends with the announcement earlier this year of a posthumous award of the Order of Merit from the Australian Olympic Committee, and in the construction of a statue in his honour due to be unveiled in mid-2019.
Better late than never perhaps, but it would have been nicer (and entirely possible) to have done all of this before he died in 2006.
29
I was 19 years old. I knew what they were trying to say. I respected them and admired them. We believed we could change the world or at least redirect the U.S. We were naive.
17
I respectfully take my knee in support and gratitude to these young athletes and to the present athletes protesting racial injustice in this country.
32
I was an infant at the time but that transfixing picture gives me chills. So inspiring.
7
"Few understood the message they were trying to send."
Everything is good, informative and accurate about this article except this stupid subhead. I was part of the baby boom generation - in my 20's in 1968, and I, and I'll daresay almost all of my contemporaries completely understood the message they were sending. Perhaps white Republicans out in TV land didn't get it, but…they didn't get much else, either. As Mr. Widmer said, things haven't changed much.
39
I, too, was 19 years old when this happened (as another writer commented). And yes, we certainly did understand the message. I actually think things have in fact changed a lot in 50 years. They have gotten better, if not even close to perfect, but we should acknowledge and be glad for the change.
What I especially want to comment on, though, is the statement about "white Republicans out in TV land." In 1968, it was not only Democrats who supported racial equality. In 1968, we still had Republicans who were on the right side of this issue. Republicans in 1968 included such as Nelson Rockefeller and Jacob Javits, and many of those who are Republican today were still staunch Democratic segregationists in 1968. This baby boomer and New York native wishes today's Republican Party had more of the kind of Republicans we had in 1968 and fewer of the kind we see today.
18
@Philip S. Wenz
I too was part of that generation, and the meaning of the statement from Smith and Carlos was not at all lost on us and our contemporaries. Just a few months before the protest of Smith and Carlos, Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy had been assassinated. We were heart sore from those killings and the repression of largely peaceful student protests. It was no surprise that the powers that were worked swiftly to punish the protest of Smith and Carols. The powerful feared any inkling of movement towards a more far and just society.
2
I am appreciative of your comments about Peter Norman in this article. His story is one worth repeating because not many people know how he too suffered because of his decision to stand politically with Carlos and Smith. He laid his convictions on the line and was vilified in Australia because of it. May history always remember what these three men stood for in turbulent times.
30
Olympic champions come and go, mostly forgotten except by their families. These men are icons, symbols of their generation and their struggle. They were in the right place at the right time, and with the right gesture. They lost their medals but lived long enough to see statues erected to themselves. Their image is forever connected to the Olympic Games. Well done.
26
I remember very clearly wondering why they were bowing their heads, which seemed to conflict with the message of their arms.
4
@Rodger Lodger
the fact that the pose was so misunderstood by 'the establishment',
and that it was "threatening", says a lot about the understanding
of people who know they have a good thing and don't intend to lose it.
In the medal stand a Country is honored for having 'produced'
the 'perfect athlete', but the Athletes themselves have contributed greatly to that end.
“You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain” (Deut. 25:4).
1
Three men quietly protested and were punished for telling truth to power. Gentleman to the end. This protest was so American.
38
I enjoyed this article, but it is a serious mischaracterization of Douglass' brilliant 4th of July speech to say he "vented his spleen."
That speech is a masterfully crafted lion's roar of righteous indignation.
Douglass begins in praise of America then uses that same idealized America to chip away at the reality of what America means to someone like him, castigating it for its treatment of African Americans. One needs to read the speech. I cannot do it justice.
25
These men are my heroes, and I salute them. I'm "white," whatever that means, and I consider the Black story, the unfinished story of the fulfillment of American ideals, to be the most vibrant theme of American history, much as Black music is its most vibrant soundtrack.
38
@LW
Thank you, i loved what you expressed here. I’ve been been trying to put this into words for a long time.
4
@LW
As a "Black American," and native Detroiter, I appreciate your comment.
Please never, never forget our indigenous minority, here in America.
2
It was a grand gesture by two good men, in a year that found the U.S. experiencing the greatest unrest in decades. While it expressed protest against injustice, it also expressed belief that the expression would be received and appreciated, as only proud free people in a free country could feel.
18
1968 may have been the worst year.Even though Brown v B.O.E. had been decided by the Supreme Court in 1954, by 1968, because of southern resistance, most public schools in the South were still segregated. The American people were being lied to about the egregious war and carnage in Vietnam. The Tet offensive proved it.Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King had been assassinated. and American cities were burning.The Democratic convention became a police riot.The gesture by Smith and Carlos was a seminal metaphor for a broken America.
43
@Don Shipp. Never thought of that, but you might be right.
Wow!
So often we never learn the facts till way past their time.
Including the one glove, one left and one right, genesis.
The world has so many remarkable, remarkable people who life misjudges. May Mr. Carlos and Mr. Smith (and Mr. Norman too) all get their deserved very big due. And may we continue to understand history much more accurately than we often do.
27
Because it had to be (and must continually be) done.
8
"Few" understood the message? Maybe few white people, but believe me, I and nearly every other black person in the country read the message loud and clear.
30
@Judy
I was 13 during the 1968 Olympics. I'm White and I CHEERED Tommy Smith and John Carlos! I remember 1968--probably the worst year we've lived through in my life. It was many years before I learned that Peter Norman was equally involved and deserved just as much praise--and suffered just as much. But Smith and Carlos knew..and remained Norman's life-long friends and, at his death, 2 of his pall-bearers.
Brave, courageous, moral people come in any and every color and these 3 men are all heroes of mine.
16
Godspeed, Smith and Carlos.
15
Speed City...that's what San Jose State was called then...As a young runner i got to see these guys in action as i often ran at the San Jose State track in '69, '70,etc. I was well aware of what they had done at Mexico City,... they were my hero's....and role models. I would never miss an opportunity to be on the infield at one of their meets. The effect they had on me and many other kids my age was pivotal. And so began my concern for social justice....watching them running....in awe...
19
This image is currently on a wall in Sydney, Australia.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/colourourcity/29651346086
History has not forgotten these brave men.
17
Wait, after Chaney, Goodman, Schwerner, Malcom X, Martin Luther King, Medgar Evers, Selma Alabama and the march on Washington there were people who did not understand the 'power salute'? Who Fred and
6
Ted Widmer deserves an Olympic medal for retelling this magnificent story.
"The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."
20
Great essay, indeed, but I missed a more profound reflection about the protests held by Colin Kaepernick and others. I think that the parallel is obvious and was worthful to mention.
12
I am a lecturer at San José State University, the alma mater of Smith and Carlos, where a full-color sculpture monument of the two athletes, raising one gloved fist each, stands within a small grassy lawn at the center of campus, a small plaque at its base.
I have taught at this university for 15 years. My department is housed in a building next to the lawn. I have passed by the monument thousands of times.
It is only after reading this article that I have a better sense of the historical context within which these athletes made their statement. Thank you.
29
Your lack of knowledge about a monument you see everyday and is part of the history of your place of employment reflect poorly on the communication patterns of the university and your own lack of curiosity.
1
Not that it matters, but my brother, who was on the San Jose State Waterpolo team, that won NCAA, and got a bronze and silver as well was inducted into the university’s hall of fame along with Tommy Smith and Juan Carlos. He had his picture taken with both...
Which was almost better than being inducted... or the best part of it..
I remember meeting a Sociology Prof there in the early 70s had a pair of cleats hanging from his lamp at his house. He said they were a pair one of them wore at the Olympics. Until this article I didn’t know that they were used to symbolize poverty.
6
Thank you Mr. Widmer, for helping us to not forget.
13
These guys should get their medals back.
15
actually they were never stripped of their medals
To those who say politics should be out of the Olympics...the games were revived FOR political reasons !!!
It was thought that the AMATEUR youth of the world should, through sport, meet and get to know each other toward a new global understanding. It was thought that when rhetoric was building to war, some of these youngsters who had met at the games and were now older and "in charge," could reason as friends and avoid so much pain and suffering.
All this ended with the inclusion of professionals and the expulsion of the amateurs, done only for ratings and profits. I see no value in awarding Olympic medals to tennis stars.
I volunteered at the XIII Olympic Winter Games at Lake Placid. It was called "the last innocent games." It was organized by the local Reverend, Bernard Fell, a former olympian. Boy Scouts, not soldiers, carried out the Olympic flag at the closing ceremony held in the hockey rink.
I witnessed firsthand true amateurs meeting, getting along, discussing the world. While the movement did not stop some of the great conflicts of the modern Olympic era...it was silly to revise the format.
Who are we talking about fifty years later?
Carlos, Smith and Norman.
Amateur Olympic athletes.
6
Sports were kept amateur so that rich people could keep the sport to themselves. Nothing ethical about it.
1
I highly recommend the documentary "Salute," about Peter Norman.
Something less than the main event, but something more than a footnote in history, Norman's act of bravery earned him the opprobrium of his countrymen for the rest of his life. The Australian Olympic Committee shunned him, and he would never run for Australia again. I believe that he subsequently developed a substance abuse problem, which may have contributed to his premature death. Norman, too, paid a high price for his stand.
There was some recompense, though. Even though he was an outcast at Australian team events, American track teams welcomed him warmly to their gatherings at international competitions.
Norman was, as memory serves, the last white sprinter to medal at an Olympics--for what it's worth.
A great man, who deserves his place in history alongside legends Carlos and John.
31
@David Crow, Sadly, and to our shame, my country took far too long to recognize Mr Norman and his selfless act of support for his fellow athletes with regard to a very important social issue.
3
@David Crow
I think Alan Wells might have something to say about that, however you may we’ll be right when it comes to the 200.
@David Crow
Valery Borzov of the then-Soviet Union medaled at the Munich Games in 72. Ukrainian by ethnicity.
1
I take it for granted that when a writer explains to me what someone was thinking when they did something he is relying on written statements or first hand interviews and not just making things up. So I believe but am puzzled by the fact that with the anti-war movement well underway and young black men bearing the burden of the draft disproportionately the Vietnam war was not on the minds of Carlos and Smith.
1
The gloves belonged to Peter Norman, and he offered them. A glaring omission.
8
@Sam Hendricks
I don’t believe the gloves belonged to Peter Norman. After reading this article I researched many videos and interviews about the salute in 1968.
Apparently John Carlos forgot his gloves at the Olympic village. Peter Norman, who also wore the button for the human rights movement of Olympic athletes, suggested to Smith and Carlos that they each wear one glove that Smith had brought.
He supported their protest, but according to Smith, the decision to raise their hands in salute was not made until the last minute. Each wore only socks, representing poverty. Each wore beads, representing repression and lynchings.
Norman was a full participant but the gloves were not his.
8
@SMK NC
I agree. The Summer Olympics occur in the summer. Why would Mr. Norman have been wearing black gloves to the podium?
Great man nonetheless. Glad I had the opportunity to learn about him.
What I remember of the protest is how so many of the same athletes who applauded Carlos and Smith in 1968 and the four years afterward did not pack their bags and go home after the Israeli athletes were murdered by Palestinian terrorists during the course of the games in 1972. Not just American athletes, either.
4
Should the Palestinians have been allowed to win? Why should any other athlete has left the 1972 Olympics after that heinous act? I would have stayed and run in my race as an actor of defiance to the Palestinians.
3
@Observer of the Zeitgeist
I can understand your point, but I suppose a case could be made that if everybody left, it would be admission that "the terrorists had won." Not saying I agree or disagree, but that is often the response to terrorist attacks.
3
Wonderful essay....
5
I have had this fiftieth anniversary written on my calendar for a while. The iconic image of Tommie Smith and John Carlos lives vibrantly and, hopefully, with more understanding. Tommie and I were friends and colleagues at Santa Monica College for over two decades. I admire his courage and feel pained by the personal prices he paid. As I think about Colin Kaepernick and others today, I have to conclude that for many people the symbols of wrongs, like raised fists, are worse than the wrongs themselves.
15
Sports Illustrated recently ran a ten page piece on the demonstration. The writer spoke to Smith in detail and less to Carlos. And what he learned, and what was central to what happened was that, contrary to common belief, Smith and Carlos were very different, and were not anything more than acquaintances.
While the common view is that the two men's actions were well coordinated, the two were pretty much in parallel universes. Carlos was an urban black from Harlem. Smith was from East Texas. Carlos was outspoken and Smith was more matter of fact. After the Olympics, both were heavily criticized and took it in very different ways.
Not long after returning to the US, the two men went their separate ways and have had little contact since. While they were united by the most famous protest in sport history, the story behind the scenes is that there were two protests that day from two very different black man each of whom sent his own message.
The truth and the version sold do not have much in common.
8
@michjaswhat difference does that make. The point is that two men of different backgrounds and temperament could agree on the pervasive racism in our country.
16
@Wesley Williams
Others might say that assuming the two were cut from the same cloth is revealing. And so is the fact that nobody bothers to interview the two. SI looks at athletes as people. The Times is more concerned with issues.
@Wesley Williams
Make that 3 men. Peter Norman didn't have as spectacular a part, but I believe both Smith and Carlos would tell you he was just as intimately involved, and paid for it, as did they.
Growing up in San Francisco I watched this on the evening news with my family. My father approved of their "protest".
Never forgot that message.
12
Amazing men, freedom loving patriots trying to make the world a better place.
16
Peter Norman was also shunned by Australian Olympic officials and his symbolic contribution to human rights went unrecognised by most in Australia for more than 30 years. Carlos and Smith knew the importance of his gesture; they were pall bearers at Norman's funeral a few years ago and often spoke of their admiration for him.
Before I retired from teaching, I used to discuss this moment with my Australian History classes so they would at least know of Peter Norman, a great Australian and human being.
75
@Steve Ellis Excellent! Great to know that young Australians were able to learn about one of their true national heroes. Highly ironic that Peter Norman might be more fondly remembered in America than his own native country.
8
Well done, Steve Ellis.
You are a credit to humanity.
8
Thanks to Mr. Widmer for recognizing the "third man on the platform," Peter Norman of Australia. It's telling that when the Olympic Games were held in Sydney in 2000, Norman was shunned by the Australian Athletic Union. It remained up to a USA Track & Field official, Steve Simmons, to provide Norman and his wife with tickets to the Sydney Olympics, where they were warmly received as guests of the 1968 U.S. Olympic team.
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@Fred Hutchison Peter Norman was recognised in the Olympic Torch Relay in 2000, where he ran a leg in Williamstown, Victoria. A wonderful, humble man.
6
Those interested should read the book The John Carlos Story. In addition to everything surrounding the before and after of the '68 Olympics in his life, it has humor. Many years later when Mr. Carlos worked as an administrator in a high school, he noted two male students exiting the campus early, and he stepped out to ask if they had permission. They took off running. The two were stunned when he rapidly over took them, and had only one question to ask, "Where did you learn to run like that?"
23
@Winston Smith
An administrator in a high school... What better place for a man of his character to find his vocation.
4
tl;dr.
Start by answering the headline:
What did it mean?
Still don't know.
For once an article I can give 100% un-nuanced support to without any reservations just as I support Colin Kaepernic 100% and those who fight against bigotry, bullying or swastika waving Nazis whether here in Chancelorville USA or those swastika waving Nazis of the Privy Sektor or Azov Brigade that we shamefully support in the Ukraine.
In today's Haaretz there was an article about how DNC leaders are worried about the NYT's recent article telling the truth that many former supporters and American Jewish Youth of Israel have a harder time supporting what is clearly a growing apartheid theocracy there.
How about we stop supporting the murderous Saudi's, Duterte, and Syrian terrorists (ISIS who btw were destroyed by the demonized Russians even while we supported these jihadists just because they are anti Assad).
Just as we need to support the Indians in Dakota whose right to vote is being denied on last minute legal changes aimed by the GOP at removing their right to vote. I fail to see why we need TWO parties lock step in rewarding Bibi's interference in US foreign and internal politics via his insulting speeches to Congress when Obama was in the UK or the fact that AIPAC has far too much influence over the US.
Lastly how about rejuvenating the UN and stop questioning the legitimacy of democracy by stating that the people are too stupid to vote for their own best interests. If the Democratic Party embraces FDR, the youth, moral policies and the truth they will win!
23
When Jesse Owens saluted, it was an act of protest. And the world’s better off because he did. And that was actually Nazi Germany.
14
I noticed you completely neglected to mention the role of ABC sportscaster Howard Cosell.
Why?
ABC covered the Olympics, and Smith and Carlos went straight to Cosell for their first interview.
Cosell supported them and their salute.
Cosell supported Muhammad Ali, and kept his name and case in front of the public as it made its way to the Supreme Court.
Cosell hammered nonstop at racism in sports, no black coaches, no black managers.
You can write this essay, this piece of crucial political and social history, without him? No.
Brent Musberger, who wasn't even there, gets a mention, though.
If Howard Cosell were alive today he'd be standing (or taking a knee) right alongside Colin Kaepernik, and eviscerating the NFL owners. And Mr. Trump.
By the way in Berlin, at Hitler's request, Avery Brundage pulled track star Marty Glickman and another Jewish track star out of their race. Kept them from competing.
You can't tell it like it was without Cosell.
Ask Harry Edwards.
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@historylesson
Good call. I remember watching all of it as I am a huge fan of the athletes and not the bureaucrats. I remember the vitriol that followed Ali, Jabar, Brown, Russell, Carlos and Smith; as well as Cosell. The medal ceremony was a high point for freedom of speech and certainly helped raise the consciousnesses of all.
2
When I saw Tommy and John Carlos with the raised fists on TV, my reaction was,"Schmuck! There goes the Wheaties Box!" (Hey, I'm an economist.) How could I know that I, who had never run track or cross country, would, 25 years later, be Tommy's assistant coach at Santa Monica College?
He didn't really like Carlos for some reason and claimed that Harry Edwards had nothing to do with his and Carlos's act on the victory stand. He never said much about Peter Norman either. So I am surprised, and pleased, that he and Carlos were pallbearers at Norman's funeral. He did get a lot of mileage out of the raised fist thing, having several photos of it in his office plus a painting based on the photo.
One time I asked him why he had his right fist raised and Carlos had the left fist up and his reply was, "They were my gloves."
Having worked with Tommy for 4 years I can tell you he is a truly great person. He liked to put on a drill sergeant front but when any of his female athletes stood up to him, he sort of backed down. I hadn't noticed that but my daughter, who ran for us one year and was an assistant coach the following year, pointed it out to me. And at his older sisters's home, where we had dinner the night before a state community college cross country meet in Fresno, he was just the kid brother.
My daughter used to tell him him that he and I made a great pair: a militant black and a liberal Jew. But Tommy wasn't really militant; he just stood up for what was right.
20
As a track athlete in those days, I watched the race and the medal presentation at that time. This piece is a very powerful reflection on the athletes and the times. Very nicely done.
20
Why should anyone, whether paid in medals or a salary (which today could mean millions), forfeit their right to have and express their opinion. To say they have no right to speak up is a claim that is entirely un-American.
25
This morning I heard NPR also saying that their message was misunderstood. I was a 4th Year Man at the University of Virginia at that time. UVa actually had admitted 2 black students in my first year, so we were almost integrated, 2 out of 5,000 undergrads. Of course, we were still segregated by gender. That's why I was a 4th Year Man. Women weren't admitted until 1970, and then only 450. I understood clearly what Smith and Carlos were saying, "Black Lives Matter." Forty-eight years later we still haven't learned that. And now we elected a racist, misogynist President who brags to the world about his racism and misogyny. I get so tired of hearing the same lame excuses. I don't notice any prejudice directed toward black people in my town. Of course there are none, but everyone will tell you that we don't discriminate. The only reason the message of Smith and Carlos was "mis-understood" was deliberate and willful opposition to equal rights, equal treatment and equal justice. After all, equality is an zero sum game; if your rights as a human being are recognized, mine must be diminished. Right?
19
We hear a lot about how unemployment (including black unemployment) is "the lowest since the 1960s"! The economic metric present leadership uses to answer all evidence of bigoted rhetoric and/or policies by Trump and his apologists.
Although, not a child of the 60s, it is pictures like this that make me scratch my head at the idea that the Trump administration would keep making reference to economics in the era of Smith and Carlos as if it is an argument against charges of bias and inequity today. Nor are protests illegitimate just because the de jure racism of the 1960s has been replaced with the wink-and-nod, dog whistles (or in Trump's case, megaphones) of 2018.
Did I grow up with more civil rights than my older family members? Absolutely. Does that mean my generation should shut up and gaze upon Trump's Empire of Joy? Absolutely not. I am more secure in my rights than Smith and Carlos. Smith and Carlos were, in turn, more secure in their rights than newly-freed slaves. And, it hardly needs to be said, newly-freed slaves were more secure in their rights than when blacks had no rights whatsoever. But equality is a pass/fail test the country (and world) struggles to pass.
But it's the STRUGGLE to do better that breeds faith in institutions. By contrast, an administration flirting with some of the most unjust elements of our society breeds contempt. The protests were inevitable.
16
Tommie Smith, John Carlos, and Peter Norman proved that afternoon that they were the three fastest men on earth.
Shortly after that they proved that they were three of the bravest.
Fate must have brought the three to the stand, in spite of the obstacles. As pointed out in the story, Smith recovered from his injury, while Carlos' lane excursion wasn't noticed.
Norman, was good, but not in class with the Americans. Until that afternoon, when he ran, like them, a race for the ages.
Smith broke 20 seconds, a dazzling accomplishment. Norman and Carlos were within a tenth of a second of duplicating that feat.
Each man went back to disgrace in his country. John Carlos said that he and Tommie Smith had it very hard, but that Peter Norman faced a whole country, alone.
A little coda to the story. Norman's time, 20.06 seconds, has stood for 50 years as the Australian record.
That's impossible. Records don't last for half a century.
But on that miraculous day, everything was possible.
Even the start of a lifelong love among the three fastest men alive, two Black, and one white.
114
"Few understood the message they were trying to send".
That was in 1968. Now, 50 years later, I am one of those who still do not understand it. Olympic games should not be commingled with the political sentiments of the participating athletes. In extreme cases, athletes should be disqualified for such demonstrative acts.
1
@Tuvw Xyz
I think what you might be missing here is this: These superb athletes, truly champions on the world stage, brought attention to persistent injustices practiced against dark-skinned people, who have been wrongly robbed of access to the advantages of living in a free society by the white-skinned people in power. Their act was NOT a political act; it was an act in support of fundamental human rights. Human rights is not political; it is ethical imperative.
48
@Tuvw Xyz What don't you understand? The personal is political, whether it's racism, sexism, poverty, addiction, or any other issue plaguing our country. You cannot expect sports to exist in a vacuum. It never has and it never will. I suggest you read up on the greatest athlete ever to grace the planet earlier in the last century, Jim Thorpe. Politics, indeed. Also, I guess anyone competing for Germany in the 30's should have been disqualified.
7
Reply to Tuvw So you believe athletes should be silent mannequins trotted out to support the bigotry of their countries, winning for the favor of the white leadership? What this piece showed so well is that these men were--and are--human beings respected only for medals they could bring to the USA but not accepted as human.
17
I was 15 years old in 1968 and watching my first Olympics when they raised their fists. I saw those guys as heroes for having the guts to take a stand like that on the world stage.
Although I grew up in an all white town and went to all white schools, the gulf between the opportunities open to me Vs black Americans in nearby towns was painfully obvious even at that age.
29
I wept when I read that Smith and Carlos were pallbearers for Norman, after all those years.
What valor, what men.
Thank you. For some reason I especially needed this today.
And the deaths of the "hundreds of students" in Mexico City SHOULD have derailed the Games.
Well done, Ted.
86
America's original sin is Racism.
The Civil War has never ended.
Black and brown peoples are marginalized.
Native Americans have been slaughtered since the 1600's
Nothing has changed in 50 years.
34
Whatever might be said about protests then and now: Merit matters most in athletics, everyone on an equal footing, so to speak. You cut it or you don't. No freebies.
4
This iconic photo still sends shivers down my spine for the bravery it displayed. Not for one moment did I feel that they disrespected the anthem or the flag. They just told their story.
Thank you for bringing their story to life again. It made me do some serious soul searching at the time and I often wondered since if the gentlemen were largely forgotten.
Thank heavens not!
61
Thanks for this great piece! I,like others, had forgotten much of the history of that moment. The one thing I never knew, but have learned from reading this article, is the story of the gloves themselves. Why Smith raised his right arm/hand and Carlos his left - made at the suggestion of the white athlete who joined them on the stand. The symmetry of the two raised black gloves are now iconic.
12
And so in a Trumpian age we go back to the future. Kneeling is a sign of respect. It is an act of defiance in an age of increasing brutality.
144
There is one common theme in the response to any minority group that protests, and that is that the majority group is offended by having to have witnessed it. In their minds, it is fine to protest, but don't do it in a way that makes them pay attention. A salt mine under Lake Erie or the dark side of the moon will do. If you can't do it there, perhaps the basement of an abandoned warehouse. To avoid the pain of introspection, the majority will find a way to belittle the protest or produce a specious argument, e.g., they are disrespecting the flag. Well, protesters, go forth and do your protest and prepare for the criticism and lies, but remember that many of us are listening and although we don't always scream in outrage at your defense, we remember, and we remember who twisted your protests with lies.
75
@Jim Dennis
Only some, not all, of the majority group is offended. Some of the majority group wholeheartedly supports the protests of the minority group.
20
@Jim Dennis
Ironically, I could see people upset even if protesters actually used the half-joking places you mentioned.
1. First off, no group of minorities (especially racial/religious minorities) protesting authority should be gathering in any abandoned warehouse basement away from public view. Textbook reasonable suspicion, that! With my complexion, I'd privately wonder whether you were TRYING to get me killed with such a suggestion! I mean, c'mon, the "feared for my life," "he was no angel," "he didn't instantaneously obey my commands," "forgot my body cam," "what about black-on-black shootings" Fox News story writes itself. Yes, ALL lives "matter," but if there was an exchange rate, well... market forces are not in my favor. Maaaybe worth some unpaid leave.
2. Using a salt mine would become an issue of property rights/trespass. It would also be considered a disgraceful insult to all miners (who are "real" Americans).
3. And there flag is a flag on the moon, so you can't protest there. It's that simple. Football players are excoriated for "disrespecting the troops" even if they stay in the locker room, so I see no reason protesters wouldn't be characterized as disrespecting the Apollo Mission flag for protesting on the dark side of the moon. Also, astronauts are often pulled from the military, so again... it's "disrespecting the troops" and the brave men and women of the future "Space Force." But the MSM never talks about Space Force veterans. #sad
1
A year or so ago, while writing an essay about the #TakeTheKnee movement and the backlash against it, my research took a deep dive into the run-up to the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City and, of course, the iconic medal ceremony for the 200 meters race.
I became more than just interested in Peter Norman---who he was, what he was about in 1968 and the ways in which he was "punished," so to speak, in Australia following that medal ceremony.
In the midst of that research, I came across a picture of John Carlos and Tommie Smith supporting their long-time friend for the final time by serving as pallbearers for Norman's funeral in 2006. I choked up. Then I saw the picture of John Carlos weeping into a handkerchief at the funeral. I wept at the thought of it.
Three heroes who did what they could with what they had to make the damned world a little less damnable. And, in the process, made a bit of history. May their tribe increase!
316
As Faulkner noted, the past isn't dead; it isn't even past. Right up to today the Olympics has sugar coated crass commercial profit taking with a thin layer of "movement" and fellowship whereas, underlying, the medal platforms, the raising of the flags, the playing of the national anthems goes back to Berlin, 1936 and Hitler and for the same tribal/racial/imperial purposes.
So Carlos and Smith raise a hand and they are ejected from the Olympics for life, medals stripped for the effrontery of "politicizing" this pure moment.
Uppity nigras getting in massah's face.
Trump responds the same way.
Oddly, today's NFL players are taking a knee, which in days of yore was a sign of subservience, just what the tyrants demanded.
But the message is the same: We are the champions and you are the masters who rule by money and political power, not by right.
29
Ali's tossing of the medal is often disputed.
@Chris Connolly
I was curious and found that to be the case as well. There's much to admire about Ali's moral stands and history has vindicated him many times over, but that particular story may take his legendary actions a bit into the realm of myth.
That said, it hasn't been settled, and one can easily subtract it and have a fully intact article.
Right on! I remember those days back when we Negroes became black. We sat together at college assembly and sporting events. Never rising to sing the national anthem nor to salute the flag. We mocked Dr. King as De Lawd and idolized Malcolm as "Our Black Shining Prince".
Outside of arts, entertainment and sports black African Americans are accepted and excel in theology, politics, the military and science. A black astronaut perished on Challenger and Colombia. Jesse Owens, Joe Louis, Rafer Johnson and Muhammed Ali were separate and unequal in America. Every one noticed that Barack Hussein Obama was only half white by biological nature. Even though he was all white by cultural nurture.
Unless and until black African Americans are treated like divinely naturally created equal persons with certain unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, America will be a monument to callous cruel cynical hypocritical immoral corruption.
Because black lives and livelihoods depend upon knowing what white people really think and feel, we have never been deceived nor misled by what white people say or write. White action and inaction has exposed a white supremacist majority and a bigoted prejudiced white minority. Both white conservatives and liberals buy the white supremacist malignancy. But liberals have pity and conservatives contempt. In the 2008 and 2012 Presidential elections 55% and 59 % of the white American majority voted white.
15
@Blackmamba But 45% and 41% voted for Obama--a number to celebrate! And I don't pity black people. I'm furious for them.
7
@Blackmamba, I didn't vote "white" or "black". I voted for the best candidate in '08 and '12, and he won.
1
The raised black fist of Tommie Smith and John Carlos may not have been intended as a symbol of violence or separatism but that is exactly why it was chosen as the symbol of the Black Panthers. If, as Smith claims, he intended to make a "'human rights salute," not a black power salute, he should have chosen a color for his glove other than black.
3
@Jay Orchard
Do some basic research, at history.com.
Did you live in Oakland 60s-70s? City corrupt. Cops (at the time) vicious, racist, sadistic. Loved beating up hippies, blacks, peaceful anti-war demonstrators. I know, lived in Bay Area.
Panthers originally a political party organized in 1966 by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale.
Dressed in black berets and black leather jackets, with big Afros, Black Panthers organized armed citizen patrols of Oakland, other U.S. cities for self-defense.
1968: peak, Black Panther Party had ca. 2,000 members.
1969: FBI declared the Black Panthers a communist organization, enemy of U.S. gov't.
1968: J. Edgar Hoover, called Black Panthers, “One of the greatest threats to the nation’s internal security.”
FBI weakened Panthers; exploited existing rivalries between black nationalist groups. Worked to undermine and dismantle the Free Breakfast for Children Program and other community social programs.
Ca. 100 bullets fired in what police called "a fierce gun battle" with Panthers. I watched it on TV. Scary.
Ballistics experts later determined that only one bullet came from the Panthers’ side.
Although the FBI was not responsible for leading the raid, a federal grand jury later indicated that the bureau played a significant role in the events leading up to the raid.
1982: The Black Panther Party officially dissolved.
The New Black Panther Party has no connection to the old one; classified as a hate group.
6
"Many leading black athletes were speaking out against racism and poverty that year, including Bill Russell, Jim Brown and Muhammad Ali..."
That would be the same Jim Brown who said he was 'honored' to visit President Trump just last week (along with the much-reported-on Kanye West) on behalf of his Amer-I-Can program.
6
This kind of nitpicking completely misses the point...
7
Wonderful essay. A shame that there has been no change in racism as evidenced by police shooting blacks in the back with no consequence and multi-state voter suppression. And taking children from their parents at the border is unspeakably evil.
25
Those were heady times for this seven year old white girl from Canada but I thought Smith and Carlos were the epitome of cool when I saw that photograph. Grown ups usually confused me at the time but they did not because of their fierce stance and also their modesty in looking downward. It carried a powerful message to this young girl. They were the champions and they had feelings and a reason for doing what they were doing. Their image mattered and it still does.
89
@Lisa
Canada was the destination of the Underground Railroad.
Canada and Mexico abolished slavery long before America.
The first President of partial African descent in North America was Vicente Guerrero who abolished slavery in Mexico. Guerrero has a Mexican state named after him. He was part brown Native, part black African and part white European.
13
All three of these Men of Courage paid a heavy price for their stand. I have read multiple articles related to this event and this is the only one that even mentions the Student Movement in Mexico in 1968 and the brutal repression that the Government unleashed in order for the Games to go on without a backdrop of popular demonstrations. I wonder if Mr. John, Mr. Carlos or Mr. Norman were aware of what had transpired in Mexico City just two weeks before. I like to think that the fists were also raised in solidarity with the People of Mexico.
40
@Douglas Yes. This is the very first time I have ever heard of the murdered students. I was fourteen years old at the time of the Mexico City Olympics, and I remember my racist family members being especially vociferous in their castigation of the athletes. Sad. True.
2
If few understand their message or the message being sent by kneeling football player, the solution is simple. Avoid grandstand gestures, but speak out at open forums so that their issues can be addressed and debated.
1
@Jake Why need these be mutually exclusive? You would like them to speak at "open forums" (whatever those may be, perhaps town hall or PTA meetings, limited in scope and thusly impact) so as not to make you uncomfortable or disturb your ritual Sundays (football for sure, and maybe church?). Why shouldn't bold gestures be made to call attention to the issues, whch then can be more fully and effectively discussed at these "open forums" that seem to proliferate near you.
16
What "open forums" would you suggest? A Wednesday afternoon garden club? Dramatic change requires dramatic gestures. What better way to force a public discussion than to make a dramatic gesture in front of 50,000 people?
9
@zumaman
Don't watch football. And I agree gestures and discussions are not mutually exclusive. My point is that gestures alone allow the athletes to avoid having to defend their argument in public. Do you have a problem with that?
Thanks for this article. I was 11 at the time, but the events made an indelible impression in my mind. I'll never forget the image of Smith and Carlos with their fists raised.
There was a similar, long form piece on this in my most recent Sports Illustrated that included recent interviews with both Smith and Carlos. What that story did not mention was the relationship between those two men and Norman, the Australian. What a fabulous anecdote Widmer included here, that they were pallbearers at Norman's funeral!
The two stories, when read together, give a full historical perspective on the events leading up to and following the race and medal ceremony. I commend both authors. The more things change the more things stay the same.
23
@Doug I too was 11 and I still remember that day like it was yesterday. I was proud of those two men and felt shame that my country wasn't what my experience was (if that makes sense) I still feel the same way.
15
I'm glad Peter Norman wasn't omitted from the tale. Australia took out its fury in him, too, denying him a spot on the 1972 team, although his silver medal time in Mexico City would have won gold in Munich. These 3 brave and moral men remained life-long friends and outlived Brundage, who went on to further outrages with his virtual ignoring of the horror at Munich. HE was the disgrace, not Tommy Smith and John Carlos.
188
I was 17. I watched on TV, when Carlos and Smith raised their fists. People said they were unpatriotic, communists, disrespectful. Fast forward to 2018, where nothing much has changed.
125
@Teddi P
Since 1968 Barack Hussein Obama was President of the United States while colored brown like my grandsons. He was their first President.
Everything has changed for them and their white peers.
3
@Teddi P--I was 17 too, and remember being proud of these guys for more than one reason. I appreciate this exposition of their story.
5
This is a great story. Congrats to the NYT for celebrating these three true heroes.
120
@nedskee
The athletes was so right, their salute was not just protesting to bring justice to blacks but to all of us. It was a human rights salute.
As Martin Luther King had said:
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
14
Thank you for this. I was old enough in 1968 to sympathize deeply with the Black Liberation movement and this Olympic moment, but I've nevertheless learned from this article how much I've either forgotten or never even known. I've also recently been to the EJI Museum in Montgomery and again found myself lamenting how little I understood of Nixon's vile and racist war on drugs--again nearly contemporary with Smith and Carlos' protest gesture. And here it is 50 years later, with so much progress made, but so much more progress still urgently needing to be made.
40
I am glad to have read this article and to be reminded of the history of the athletic arms raised in resistance. That those arms are also supports to an arch or bridge of unity is an image that is compelling.
53
The US track team's coach, Payton Jordan of Stanford, was a notorious right-winger.
And yet, according to what I've heard from people associated with Stanford track and field at the time, Jordan supported the protest -- not what they were protesting, but that they had every right to protest and should not be punished for it.
Brundage saw it differently, of course.
36
@DM That's the difference between a conservative and a fascist.
8
Without historical context it is impossible to fully understand the present...
Against the backdrop of the history this article articulates we can better understand where Colin Kaepernic or the Parkland student activists fit in the broad sweep of history....
They are part of a long line of human resistance to injustice and there actions will one day be celebrated in that light.
165
@Kent Jones
Donald Trump took five bone spur deferments in order to play golf, sexually assault women and count his Daddy's cash.
Trump was no John McCain nor John Kerry nor Colin Powell nor Muhammad Ali.
12
@Blackmamba - not arguing with your comment, but how is it apropos to Kent Jones's statement?