Olympians who took a political stand in �68
and shook the world to be honored by alma mater

By Dennis Freeman
OW Staff Writer

The year of 1968 was a tumultuous one for African Americans, the civil rights movement, and the United States. The civil rights movement was at its zenith. African Americans were fighting vigorously for equal treatment in this country. But their struggle wouldn�t come without sacrifice or despair.

Tragedy and human suffering was everywhere.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the iconic figure of the civil rights movement, was assassinated in front of a Memphis hotel. Rioting spread through over 120 cities shortly after King�s murder. The Black Panthers, and its leaders, Eldridge Cleaver and Huey Newton, found themselves being taken down by law enforcement and the FBI.

Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, brother of slain President John F. Kennedy, was gunned down in downtown Los Angeles at the Ambassador Hotel. At the time of his death, Kennedy, a staunch civil rights supporter, was a presidential candidate.

Sit-ins were performed as blacks seized administration offices on major college campuses such as Howard University, Boston University, and Columbia University.

And how could anyone forget the Orangeburg Massacre, in which police officers fired into a crowd of African-American students who were peacefully boycotting a segregated bowling alley at South Carolina State College at Orangeburg.

Three black students lost their lives, another 27 were wounded in the attack.
On Oct. 16, 1968, at the XIX Olympiad in Mexico City, the �Fists of Freedom� were raised in civil disobedience to decry the unjust treatment that African Americans were subjected to in the United States. Two black men. Two raised fists. Two black gloves, one representing black power, the other unification of African Americans. A moment of defiance and activism. A moment of truth for Tommie Smith and John Carlos.

A moment in time that reflected iniquities and inequalities for those who represented the good of the United States but were subjected to fire hoses, snapping police dogs, poverty, lynchings and segregation during the Jim Crow era.

There stood Smith and Carlos at the podium, both wearing long black socks and no shoes, boldly unwavering in their political stance. The black socks and shoeless appearance signaled poverty for African Americans living in the country.

Smith�s raised right fist stood for black power. Carlos� left gloved fist was a symbol of black unity. The box that Smith carried to the platform with him was a sign of peace, and the black scarf that he had wrapped around his neck was meant to show pride.

The beads Carlos had draped around his neck symbolized the many lynchings that blacks endured while in this country.

What Tommie Smith and John Carlos did when they took the victory stand after the 200-meter run 37 years ago still reigns as one of the most defining moments, not only in the civil rights movement, but also in American history.
The bowing of their heads while the national anthem played spoke of the shame of being an American who wasn�t white; the embarrassment of representing a country many blacks felt treated them like second-class citizens. Their closed eyes and silence on the victory stand resonated internationally and showed to the world that inhumane treatment should not be accepted anywhere, let alone in the most powerful country in the world.
�We wanted to bring attention to the world about the plight of black people and minorities throughout the world,� said Carlos in a phone interview with OW. �We wanted to bring attention to the pain and suffering and inequities that were taking place on blacks in and around that time.�

Carlos, who went on to tie the world record in the 100-yard dash with a 9.1 clocking in 1969, said if he had the opportunity to do it all over again, he would. He said he has no regrets about what he and Smith did on that October day 37 years ago.

�When you�re doing the right thing, how can you have regrets?� said Carlos. �What? Because they put some punishment on me and because they spiked me. That�s nothing to what God would do to me if I did the wrong thing. But we had some African Americans that felt that what I did set them back 50 years�100 years.�

What Smith and Carlos believe they did was move things forward.

And 37 years later, America is beginning to pay homage to the two men who survived constant death threats, vilification at home by the public, humiliation and abandonment by friends, and a great deal more of personal sacrifice for their courageous stand.

More importantly, they can now go home.

San Jose State, the school Smith and Carlos attended when they were booted out of the Olympics because of their actions, is paying homage to them in a special way. After three years of planning, San Jose State will unveil a 20-foot-plus life-like sculpture of Smith and Carlos on the victory stand in Mexico City.

The daylong event will culminate with a formal ceremony in which Smith, Carlos, and former 400-meter world record-holder Lee Evans will attend. The official ceremony will take place Monday on the school�s campus.
The honoring of Smith and Carlos, who finished first and third, respectively, in the 200 meters in 1968, may be many, many years late for some, but it�s right on time for others.

�San Jose State is committed to the ideals of dignity, equality and justice,� said Don W. Kassing, president of the university. �Tommie Smith and John Carlos are role models for our students because they acted on their beliefs without regard for personal risk. They brought attention to social injustice in our country. They were thoughtful about it and used powerful symbolism to send their message.

�We hope that the sculpture commemorating their pivotal moment in the human rights movement will inspire all of us, and especially young people, to act on our beliefs and bring about positive change in society for generations to come.�

The change and the right time to honor Smith And Carlos, who received honorary doctorate degrees from the university earlier this year, came about when the school�s student body�Associated Students�came up with a resolution for the statue to be built.

The Associated Students were able to raise $350,000 for the sculpture and the erecting of it.

Alfonso De Alba, executive director of the Associated Students, said the recognition for Smith and Carlos� stunning protest should have come a lot sooner.

�It�s a long, overdue recognition,� said De Alba. �It�s all of society�s fault that it has taken this long to recognize them. But it was the school that woke up to it. We needed a wake-up call. I think that this is the most recognizable event�when it comes to athletes and students�when it comes to civil rights. I think this makes a worldwide statement of student activities used as a mechanism for change.�

The creation of the �Silent Protest� was generated not just by what was happening in the United States, but globally as well, said Carlos.
The United States was still deeply engaged in the Vietnam War then. And just days before the 1968 Olympics, a campus protest turned deadly when a riot broke out, leaving a large number of Mexico City university students wounded or dead by army troops. The fight for oppression was on. The world�s climate was ripe for a change; a radical stance. Smith and Carlos gave it to them.

But they paid dearly for their actions. Societal pressure created a backlash, emotionally, financially and mentally for the families of Smith and Carlos. The pressure eventually got to Carlos� first wife. Almost a decade after the 1968 Olympics, Carlos� first wife took her own life as an indirect result of the incident.

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