Their fists are up in defiance.
Their shoes are off and their pant legs are rolled up in protest of poverty.
Their heads are bowed in humility and prayer.



DemocracyNow! did a recent interview with Tommie Smith (the other two on the dias are John Carlos - USA and Peter Norman - Australian)...

TOMMIE SMITH: So, John Carlos and Tommie Smith decided in the dungeon, only a few minutes before the victory stand, what they were going to do. I had asked my wife earlier to bring me a pair of gloves from California. She had not left to come to Mexico yet. So I asked her to bring me gloves after the meeting. And I didn’t know what I was going to do with the gloves, but I knew I had to make a representation of my feelings, and it would have to be silent, had to be respectful, and it would have to be visual. And this is the raised fist. I had the right glove, John Carlos had the left glove. They were gloves, which my wife brought from California. And it was a cry for freedom. When both fists went up in the air, very justified in that they went up, not undignified or disrespect to the flag. We did face the flag. We didn't turn our back on the flag. But it was a silent gesture. It was a prayer in hope that our system would become a stronger system in representing all of its people equally, human, and civilly.

AMY GOODMAN: Tommie Smith, that moment when you put your hand up in the fist and you had a black glove over it, people often say the two right arms and a fist, but, of course, it wasn't, because you only had one pair of gloves, so one of you wore the right and one of you wore the left, you and John Carlos. But then, there's also the bottom part of that picture -- your feet -- that you and John Carlos were not wearing shoes, were not wearing your sneakers or your running shoes, as they call it today. You were wearing black socks. Explain the significance of these socks.

TOMMIE SMITH: As I said earlier, we had to make it respectful and visual. Of course, the gloves represented power. The bare feet represented poverty. We took our shoes off, rolled our uniform, which was blue, up around our gastrocnemius muscle, and to make visual the need for a security in the way that people were being treated, jobs that we did not have, which we should have. And, you know, this is not a representation just of black athletes. It was our entire community -- in fact, people of color most anywhere. So this Olympic Project for Human Rights didn't just represent the black athlete or the black citizen in the country. It was a cry for freedom for those who had no way to make justified their feelings.

PETER NORMAN: It makes me pretty proud to be part of a demonstration that has lasted this long, that was as meaningful as it was, that had this response over the years. The things that were going on in the States and, indeed, all around the world, but more importantly in the States, the things that were going on with the riots and everything, and amid all this anger, the hostility, the violence, here’s two guys that after an Olympic event sacrificed what would probably have been the greatest moment in their life, as far as personal glory is concerned. And they sacrificed that to pay homage to the cause that they felt so strongly about.

AMY GOODMAN: That was Peter Norman, the Australian sprinter who came in second and stood on the dais with Tommie Smith and John Carlos. David Steele, Tommie Smith and John Carlos were the pallbearers at Peter Norman's funeral just a few months ago. The significance of this white athlete standing with the two black athletes? I believe he had said he would have worn a glove, except that they only had one pair, and there wasn't enough for him.

Officials at the Olympic Games managed to quell any disruption until two black Americans, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, who finished first and third in the 200-meter run, bowed their heads and, at great personal risk to themselves, raised their fists in the Black Power salute during the national anthem as a protest against racism in the U.S.


Wednesday, February 21st, 2007
Silent Gesture: Gold-Medalist Tommie Smith on His Historic Black Power Salute at 1968 Olympics
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid...