"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."
They were wearing black scarfs and an unzipped track suit to represent black power and show solidarity with all the blue collar workers. Shoeless, but wearing black socks they stood at the podium to receive their medals for 1st and 3rd place in the 200m dash. It was 1968 and the Olympic games in Mexico City was coming to an end. "The Star-Spangled Banner" played and the two athletes raised their fist hidden in a black glove. Their names were Tommie Smith and John Carlos.
The International Olympic Committee(IOC) president, Avery Brundage, responded to their actions by ordering the two athletes suspended from the U.S. team and from the Olympic Village. When the US Olympic Committee refused, he threatened to ban the whole U.S. team. Smith and Carlos were expelled from the team.
In the following years the U.S. sporting establishment ostracized the two athletes and they were criticized not only by the media but they also received death threats at home. Even though people at that time did not approv of their actions, 41 years later it stands as a milestone of the Black Power movement and the oppression of the black citizens of America.
In 2008, the official IOC website states that "Over and above winning medals, the black American athletes made names for themselves by an act of racial protest."
Mitt bursdags innlegg:D 18 år! yay;)
Peace Out. Ida
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