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The Olympics - 1968-2008
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Or maybe they just take infinite twists and turns.
Tommie Smith, center
John Carlos, right; Summer Olympics, 1968, Mexico City |
Cullen Jones, Summer Olympics 2008, Beijing |
12 August 2008
The Summer Olympics are now in full swing in Beijing, China. Are you old enough to remember this time 40 years ago, the Summer Olympics of 1968 in Mexico City? We Baby Boomers were kicking up our heels all over the place that summer; Woodstock was only a year away and the black power/black unity movement were at their height.
In spite of the fact that the Olympics are supposed to be strictly a sports event, current politics have always crept into the event. This year, human rights organizations took issue with China's human rights' policies. In 1968 Black athletes organized the Olympic Project for Human Rights to call for a boycott of the 1968 Olympics stating,
"We must no longer allow this country to use a few so called Negroes to point out to the world how much progress she has made in solving her racial problems... We must no longer allow the sports world to pat itself on the back as a citadel of racial justice when the racial injustices of the sports world are infamously legendary… So we ask why should we run in Mexico only to crawl home?"
Inspired by these sentiments, Gold and Bronze Medal winners, Tommie Smith and John Carlos gave the Black Power Salute when "The Star-Spangled Banner" was played. Both atheletes were subsequently expelled from the Games.
Forty years later, I can't remember the last time I saw a Black Power Salute, let alone one at the Olympics. But, being a Black American athlete at the Olympics continues to imply social issues. Cullen Jones, Gold Medalist swimmer in the 4 x 100 relay has stated: "The stigma of 'black people don't swim' is coming to an end."
The twists and turns of History, if it's not one thing it's another.
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