A STORY FROM MEXICO OLYMPICS

A STORY FROM MEXICO OLYMPICS

The pictures on this page depict an important landmark in the history of the CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT IN THE UNITED  STATES. 

(Civil Rights Movement in the USA (1954-1968) refers to a set of events and reform movements aimed at abolishing legal racial discrimination against African-Americans. Led by Martin Luther King Jr., this movement practiced non-violent methods of civil disobedience against racially discriminatory laws and practices.)

These represent the medal ceremony of the 200 metres race in the 1968 Olympics held at Mexico City. The two men standing with clenched fists upraised and heads bowed, while the American national anthem was played, are the US athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos. They are AFRICAN-AMERICANS. They had won the gold and bronze medals respectively. They received their medals wearing black socks and no shoes to represent Black poverty. With this gesture,  they tried to draw international attention to racial discrimination in the United States. The black-gloved and raised clenched fists were meant to symbolise BLACK POWER. The silver medallist, white Australian athlete, Peter Norman, wore a human rights badge on his shirt during the ceremony to show his support to the two Americans.

Do you think that Carlos and Smith should have raised an internal matter of American society in an international forum? Would you say that what they did was political? Why do you think Peter Norman, who was neither Black nor American, joined in the gesture of protest? If you were in Norman’s place what would you do?

In 2005, the San Jose State University installed a 20-foot high sculpture representing the protest by Tommie Smith and John Carlos. A photograph of the original medal ceremony in 1968 is on the top.

The International Olympic Association held Carlos and Smith guilty of violating the Olympic spirit by making a political statement. Their medals were taken back. Back home, they were subjected to a lot of criticism. Norman too suffered for his action and was not included in the Australian team for the next Olympic. But their action succeeded in gaining international attention for the Civil Rights Movement in the US. Recently, the San Jose (pronounced ‘Saan Hoze’) State University, of which they were former students, honoured them and installed their statue in the University campus. When Norman died in 2006, Smith and Carlos were pallbearers at his funeral.

More to know

Some Dalit groups decided to participate in the UN Conference Against Racism in Durban in 2001, demanding the inclusion of caste in the agenda of this conference. Here are three reactions to this move:

Amandeep Kaur (a government official): Our Constitution declares caste discrimination to be illegal. If some caste discrimination continues, it is an internal matter. I am opposed to this being raised in an international forum.

Oinam (a sociologist): I am opposed to this because caste and race are not similar divisions. Caste is a social division, while the race is a biological one. Raising caste in this conference on racism would mean equating the two.

Ashok (a Dalit activist): The argument about the internal matter is a way of preventing an open discussion of oppression and discrimination. Race is not purely biological. It is as much a legal and sociological category as caste. Caste discrimination must be raised in this conference.

Let’s find out

1.  My salute to Carlos and Smith! Will I ever have the courage to do what they did?

2.  I met this group of girls from Pakistan and felt that I had more in common with them than many girls from other parts of my own country. Is this anti-national to feel so?

3.  Which of the three opinions do you agree with most and why?

Source: This topic is taken from NCERT TEXTBOOK