On October 16, 1968, 24-year-old Tommie Smith and 23-year-old John Carlos placed first and third at the Olympics in Mexico City. Donning black gloves, black socks without shoes to represent Black poverty, black beads for lynching victims, and a black scarf for Black pride, they stood on the victory stand.
Smith raised his right fist for Black Power. Carlos raised his left for Black unity. Then came the consequences.
The U.S. Olympic Committee suspended the Black sprinters. Then, the Committee told them they had 48 hours to leave. Director Everett Barnes said they “made our country look like the devil.”
But, considering Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had been murdered that same year, whose fault was that?
Unfortunately, when Smith and Carlos arrived home, things didn’t get better. The media demonized them. They received countless death threats. Carlos said it contributed to his wife’s suicide years later.
Still, one sportswriter notes, although the famous photo of their resistance appears in history textbooks today, the story behind it often doesn’t.
Smith and Carlos took a huge risk and suffered the consequences - but we must never forget their resistance to white supremacy. Even when they couldn’t be heard they were seen so remember our actions don’t just speak. They scream!