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The 1968 Olympics were in full swing in Mexico City, but Black athletes weren’t playing games. Not since the 1930s had more Black athletes shown their Black pride and support for diaspora-wide Black unity.
George Foreman was boxing for the U.S. He’d already witnessed two Black American athletes suspended from the Games for throwing up the Black Power salute during the national anthem. But soon, Foreman himself would be in the spotlight.
Just two days after Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fists to protest the treatment of Black people in the U.S., the 19-year-old Foreman won the gold medal for boxing. And then he did the unthinkable – he waved a tiny American flag as he took a victory lap around the ring. But that wasn’t all.
Foreman waved the flag at every non-white athlete he saw in Mexico. Though there was immediate backlash for the flag waving, which was seen as the opposite of a pro-Black stance, Foreman ignored the criticism, insisting he was celebrating his American nationality. But what’s the truth?
The truth is that our Blackness can be celebrated in all kinds of ways. From claiming American soil to protesting how we are treated while on it, there are multiple ways to raise our voice. How do you believe we should fight the powers that be?