workingclasshistory:

On this day, 16 October 1968, African-American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their gloved fists in a Black power salute during the playing of the American national anthem as they were awarded gold and bronze medals at the Olympics in Mexico City. Smith would later clarify: “I wore a black glove to represent social power or Black power; I wore socks, not shoes, to represent poverty; I wore a black scarf around my neck to symbolise the lynching, the hangings that Black folks went through while building this country.” Following the protest, they were largely ostracised by the American sporting establishment. Time magazine on 25 October 1968 wrote: “‘Faster, Higher, Stronger’ is the motto of the Olympic Games. ‘Angrier, nastier, uglier’ better describes the scene in Mexico City last week.” Sports journalist Brent Musburger declared “Smith and Carlos looked like a couple of black-skinned storm troopers”. When asked about comparing them to Nazis decades later, he stood by his criticism. Both Smith and Carlos were subject to abuse and they and their families received death threats. The Australian athlete Peter Norman, the other man on the podium, also showed solidarity with the protest wearing an ‘Olympic Project for Human Rights’ badge in protest of his government’s 'White Australia’ policy, and giving his gloves to Smith and Carlos. He too would also be reprimanded by his nation’s Olympic authorities and was not picked for the following Olympic games as a result.

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