1968 Olympics Black Power Salute
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Black Power Salute at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico is a noted civil rights protest.
Arguably one of the most notorious and overtly political statements in the 110 year history of the Olympic Games, Black American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos performed a Black Power salute at the 1968 Olympics.
After completing their 200m race on the evening of October 17, 1968, American athlete Smith, who won the race in a then world record time of 19.83 seconds, with Australia's Peter Norman in second with a time of 20.06 seconds and American Carlos in third place with a time of 20.10 seconds, went to collect their medals at the podium. The two American athletes received their medals shoeless, but wearing black socks, to represent black poverty. Smith wore a black scarf around his neck to represent black pride and Carlos wore a string of beads, to commemorate black people who had been lynched. All three athletes wore OPHR (Olympic Project for Human Rights) badges, after Norman expressed sympathy with their ideals. Carlos had forgotten his black gloves, but Norman suggested that they share Smith's pair, with Smith wearing the right glove and Carlos the left. When the Star Spangled Banner played, Smith and Carlos delivered the salute with heads bowed, a gesture which became front page news around the world. As they left the podium they were booed by the crowd. Smith later said If I win, I am American, not a black American. But if I did something bad, then they would say I am a Negro. We are black and we are proud of being black. Black America will understand what we did tonight.
[edit] International Olympic Committee Response
IOC president Avery Brundage deemed a domestic political statement unfit for the apolitical, international forum the Olympic Games was supposed to be. In an immediate response to their actions, he ordered Smith and Carlos suspended from the U.S. team and banned from the Olympic Village. The US Olympic Committee refused, it was then told that the entire US team would be banned. This threat led to the two athletes being stripped of their medals and expelled from the Games.
A spokesperson for the organisation said it was a deliberate and violent breach of the fundamental principles of the Olympic spirit.
[edit] Aftermath
Smith and Carlos were largely ostracised by the US sporting establishment in the following years and in addition were subject to criticism of their actions. The Los Angeles Times accused Smith and Carlos of a "Nazi-like salute." Time Magazine showed the five-ring Olympic logo with the words, "Angrier, Nastier, Uglier," instead of "Faster, Higher, Stronger". Back home they were subject to abuse and they and their families received death threats.
Smith continued in athletics and continued the promotion of equal rights. He went on to play American Football with the Cincinnati Bengals, before becoming an assistant professor of Physical Education at Oberlin College. In 1995 he went on to help coach the US team at the World Indoor Championships at Barcelona. In 1999 he was awarded a Sportsman of the Millennium award. He is now a public speaker.
Carlos's career followed a similar path to Smith. He initially continued in athletics, equalling the 100m world record the following year. After athletics he played American Football with the Philadelphia Eagles before a knee injury prematurely ended his career. He fell upon hard times in the late 1970s and in 1977 his wife committed suicide. In 1985 he became a track and field coach at a school in Palm Springs, a post which he still holds.
Norman, who was sympathetic to his competitor's protest, was reprimanded by his Country's Olympic authorities and ostracised by the Australian media. He was not picked for the 1972 Summer Olympics, despite finishing third in his trials. He kept running, but contracted gangrene in 1985 after tearing his Achilles Tendon, which nearly led to his leg being amputated. Depression and heavy drinking followed. He died on October 3, 2006. Smith and Carlos were pallbearers at his funeral.
San Jose State University honoured former students Smith and Carlos with a 20ft high statue of their protest in 2005.
