During the 1968 summer olympics there was a political demonstration conducted by African-American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos during their medal ceremony. After having won gold and bronze medals, respectively, in the 200 meter running event, they turned on the podium to face their flags, and to hear the American national anthem. Each athlete raised a black-gloved fist, and kept them raised until the anthem had finished. In addition, Smith, Carlos, and Australian silver medalist Peter Norman all wore human rights badges on their jackets. In his autobiography, Smith stated that the gesture was not a "Black Power" salute, but a "human rights salute." This event was one of the most widely viewed 'political statements' in the history of the Olympics.
SUMMARY:
On the morning of October 16th, 1968, U.S. athlete Tommie Smith won the 200 meter race with a world-record time of 19.83 seconds. Australia's Peter Norman finished second with a time of 20.06 seconds, and the U.S.'s John Carlos won third place with a time of 20.10 seconds. After the race was completed, the three went to the podium for their medals. The two U.S. athletes received their medals shoeless, but wearing black socks, to represent black poverty. Tommie Smith wore a black scarf around his neck to represent black pride, Carlos had his tracksuit top unzipped to show solidarity with all blue-collar workers in the U.S. and wore a necklace of beads which he described "were for those individuals that were lynched, or killed and that no-one said a prayer for, that were hung and tarred. All three athletes wore Olympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR) badges. Sociologist Harry Edwards, the founder of the OPHR, had urged black athletes to completely boycott the games. Carlos and Smith obviously did not boycott the games, however the actions of Smith and Carlos were directly inspired by Edwards's.
Both U.S. athletes intended to bring black gloves to the event, but Carlos forgot his. It was Peter Norman who suggested Carlos wear Smith's left-handed glove. For this reason, Carlos raised his left hand as opposed to his right, differing from the traditional Black Power salute. When the National Anthem 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."
International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Avery Brundage deemed it to be a domestic political statement unfit for the international forum of the worldwide Olympic Games. In response to their actions, he ordered Smith and Carlos suspended from the US team and banned. When the US Olympic Committee refused, Brundage threatened to ban the entire U.S. track team. This threat led to the expulsion of the two athletes from the Games.
A spokesman for the IOC said Smith and Carlos's actions were "a deliberate and violent breach of the fundamental principles of the Olympic spirit." Brundage, who was president of the United States Olympic Committee in 1936, had made no objections against Nazi salutes during the Berlin Olympics. He argued that the Nazi salute, being a national salute at the time, was acceptable in a competition of nations, while the athletes' salute was not of a nation and therefore unacceptable.
Brundage had been accused of being one of the United States' most prominent Nazi sympathisers even after the outbreak of the Second World War, and his removal as president of the IOC had been one of the three stated objectives of the Olympic Project for Human Rights.
Smith and Carlos were largely ostracized by the U.S. sporting establishment and they were subject to criticism. Time magazine in October of 1968 wrote: "'Faster, Higher, Stronger' is the motto of the Olympic Games. 'Angrier, nastier, uglier' better describes the scene at the Olympics last week." Back home, both Smith and Carlos were subject to abuse and they and their families received death threats.
LATER IN LIFE:
Smith continued in athletics, playing in the NFL with the Cincinnati Bengals before becoming an assistant professor of physical education at Oberlin College. In 1995, he helped coach the U.S. team at the World Indoor Championships at Barcelona. In 1999 he was awarded the California Black Sportsman of the Millennium Award. He is now a public speaker.
Carlos' career followed a similar path. He tied the 100 yard dash world record the following year. Carlos also tried professional football, was a 15th round selection in the 1970 NFL Draft, but a knee injury curtailed his tryout with the Philadelphia Eagles. He fell upon hard times in the late 1970s. In 1977, his ex-wife committed suicide, leading him to a period of depression. In 1982, Carlos was employed by the Organizing Committee for the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles to promote the games and act as liaison with the city's black community. In 1985, he became a track and field coach at Palm Springs High School. As of 2012, Carlos works as a counselor at the school.
Smith and Carlos received an Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the 2008 ESPY Awards honoring their action.
Norman (the Australian), who was sympathetic to his competitors' protest, was criticized by conservatives in the Australian media. He was not picked for the 1972 Summer Olympics, despite having qualified 13 times over. In fact, Australia did not send any male sprinters at all to the 1972 Olympics for the first time since the modern Olympics began in 1896. When Norman died in 2006, Smith and Carlos were pallbearers at his funeral.
Australian officials say they supported Norman at the 1968 games, did not punish him, and always regarded him as "one of our finest Olympians."
In 2005, San Jose State University honored former students Smith and Carlos with a 22-foot high statue of their protest titled Victory Salute.
CONCLUSION:
As you can see, protesting the National Anthem is nothing new. Colin Kaepernick did not 'invent' this type of protest . . . he is simply following in the steps of Tommie Smith and John Carlos. Instead of ostracizing him for his beliefs and actions, why don't we learn from our past instead? Releasing the hate for this 'type' of protest would be beneficial to our brothers and sisters and ultimately our country.
If you are unsure why some of the NFL players are currently protesting - here is a very articulate response from the man that started the protest . . .