49 years ago today. . .

[DinahMoeHum]

The gesture seen around the world: October 16, 1968



Forty-Nine Years Later: We Still Raising Our Fists - John Carlos
http://www.johncarlos68.com/2017/10/16/forty-nine-years-later-we-still-raising-our-fists/


Tips of the hat for Tommie, Peter and John:

[underpants]

1. Bronze medalist Peter Norman. He supported them and paid a heavy price for it.

Norman wore a badge on the podium in support of the Olympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR). After the final, Carlos and Smith had told Norman what they were planning to do during the ceremony. As journalist Martin Flanagan wrote; "They asked Norman if he believed in human rights. He said he did. They asked him if he believed in God. Norman, who came from a Salvation Army background, said he believed strongly in God. We knew that what we were going to do was far greater than any athletic feat. He said, 'I'll stand with you'." Carlos said he expected to see fear in Norman's eyes. He didn't; "I saw love."[11] On the way out to the medal ceremony, Norman saw the OPHR badge being worn by Paul Hoffman, a white member of the US Rowing Team, and asked him if he could wear it.[12] It was Norman who suggested that Smith and Carlos share the black gloves used in their salute, after Carlos left his pair in the Olympic Village.[4] This is the reason for Smith raising his right fist, while Carlos raised his left.


After the salute, Norman's career suffered greatly. A 2012 CNN profile noted that "he returned home to Australia a pariah, suffering unofficial sanction and ridicule as the Black Power salute's forgotten man. He never ran in the Olympics again."[13] He was not selected for the Olympic Games in Munich in 1972 despite turning in adequate times, and was not welcomed even three decades later at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.[14][15][16] Carlos later noted that "If we [Carlos and Smith] were getting beat up, Peter was facing an entire country and suffering alone."[15][16]

In 1985, Norman contracted gangrene after tearing his Achilles tendon during a charity race, which nearly led to his leg being amputated. Depression, heavy drinking and pain killer addiction followed.[17]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Norman

[DinahMoeHum]

2. Silver medal, actually.

Smith and Carlos were pall-bearers at his funeral in 2006:

http://www.edgeofsports.com/2006-10-09-202/index.html

[underpants]

3. Yes they were. Yes Silver. My bad. N/t

[Aristus]

4. Three great men...

It's things like this that make me proud to be a liberal.

BTW, this happened the day before I was born.