Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} The John Carlos Story The Sports Moment That Changed the World by John Carlos 53 years on, John Carlos still sees the IOC as a money-chasing dictatorship. I recently had the honor of sitting down with Dr John Carlos for my podcast, The Rematch. I wanted to get the thoughts of the man who made history by protesting in support of human rights on the podium alongside Tommie Smith at the 1968 Olympics. His views are particularly timely given the International Olympic Committee’s intention to enforce its infamous Rule 50 in Tokyo this summer. Under Rule 50, athletes are banned from protesting on the podium, field of play or at ceremonies (they can still express political views on social media or in interviews). It may as well be called the John Carlos and Tommie Smith rule. It is unclear what punishment athletes will face if they ignore Rule 50 and protest, but in 1968 the US Olympic Committee, under pressure from the IOC, expelled Carlos and Smith from the Games. Carlos told me he is concerned athletes will face similar punishments this year in Tokyo. “The IOC is standing firm on their position from ‘68,” he said. “They don’t want any type of demonstration whatsoever. They don’t want a social demonstration, moral demonstration or political demonstration. Now, my concern is that the United States Olympic committee initially endorsed the kids and allowed them to stand on their moral character. But my concern is … if any young individuals decide to make a statement, whether the United States Olympic committee will be there to support them, back them, or throw them under the bus”. Any hope that the IOC has softened over time is dampened by the fact that Carlos has never received an apology for the events of 1968, despite the fact that he and Smith faced death threats and widespread exclusion on their return to the United States. “I confronted the IOC about an apology and they told me: ‘We didn’t do anything to you. The United States Olympic committee did that to you.’ Which technically is true, but it was under the direction of the International Olympic Committee. The IOC put a mandate on the US Olympic Committee and said: ‘If you don’t kick these guys off the team, we’re going to suspend the whole United States Olympic team.’” As well as its refusal to apologize to Smith and Carlos, the IOC’s defense of Rule 50 is odd to say the least. “The mission of the Olympics is to unite and not to divide. We are the only event in the world that gets the entire world together in a peaceful competition,” IOC president Thomas Bach said last year. “I ask them [politicians and athletes] to respect this mission of the Olympic Games and in order to accomplish this mission we must be politically neutral. Otherwise we would end up in this divisive and boycott situation. I ask them to respect this political neutrality by not using [the Olympics] as a stage for their political purposes.” I find this insulting. Wearing a shirt that says, “Bernie Sanders should have been president” is a political statement. “Black Lives Matter”, on the other hand, is not a political statement, but a human rights statement. Besides, Carlos told me the idea that the Olympics isn’t inherently political is a fiction to begin with. “I would tell the International Olympic Committee, first of all, you need to come out the stone age,” he said. “You need to realize that times have changed. People’s visions and people’s views have changed. The people who represent you, you should have a concern about their pain. These are things you have a responsibility to instead of putting up a fictitious statement like this is an a political institution – it’s been political since it’s been there. If it wasn’t political, you would have one Olympic flag and everyone would have the same Olympic jersey on. But you have flags all over the Olympics. What you’re doing is running a dictatorship” Smith also addressed the issue of athletes from different countries showing solidarity with each other, just as Australia’s Peter Norman did with Carlos and Smith in 1968. Carlos said Norman demonstrated the crucial role white allies can play when they stand in solidarity with Black people, as well as the importance of unity and the moral courage to stand up for human rights. They seem like ideals the Olympics should want to embrace. Imagine, for example, the message it would send for athletes from around the world to stand together and protest against the violations of human rights happening right now to Palestinians. Carlos has had 53 years to think about politics, the Olympics and protests. But he does not believe protests and human rights are the main motivations for the IOC. Instead he sees its driving force as something far more basic – and a good deal less lofty. “We had one of the most dire times in world history with this virus that has been going around,” he said. “And they will force the Games through [despite] the virus. We’re gonna bring athletes from all over the world to host these Games, for [the IOC’s] bottom line … No matter who is at the helm of the International Olympic Committee, they are protecting their interest: money.” The John Carlos Story: The Sports Moment That Changed the World. Seen around the world, John Carlos and Tommie Smith’s Black Power salute on the 1968 Olympic podium sparked controversy and career fallout. Yet their show of defiance remains one of the most iconic images of Olympic history and the Black Power movement. Here is the remarkable story of one of the men behind the salute, lifelong activist, John Carlos. About the authors: Dr. John Carlos John Carlos is an African American former track and field athlete and professional football player, and a founding member of the Olympic Project for Human Rights. He won the bronze-medal in the 200 meters race at the 1968 Summer Olympics, where his Black Power salute on the podium with Tommie Smith caused much political controversy. He went on to equal the world record in the 100 yard dash and beat the 200 meters world record. After his track career, he enjoyed brief stints in the National Football League and Canadian Football League but retired due to injury. He became involved with the United States Olympic Committee and helped to organize the 1984 Summer Olympics. He later became a track coach at a high school in Palm Springs, where he now resides. He was inducted into the USA Track & Field Hall of Fame in 2003. Dave Zirin Named of the UTNE Reader’s “50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Our World”, Dave Zirin writes about the politics of sports for the Nation Magazine. He is their first sports writer in 150 years of existence. Winner of Sport in Society and Northeastern University School of Journalism's 2011 'Excellence in Sports Journalism' Award, Zirin is also the host of Sirius XM Radio’s popular weekly show, Edge of Sports Radio. He has been called “the best sportswriter in the United States,” by Robert Lipsyte. Dave Zirin is, in addition, a columnist for SLAM Magazine and the Progressive. Cornel West One of America's most provocative public intellectuals, Cornel West has been a champion for racial justice since childhood. His writing, speaking, and teaching weave together the traditions of the black Baptist Church, progressive politics, and jazz. The New York Times has praised his "ferocious moral vision." His many books include Race Matters, Democracy Matters, and his new autobiography, Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud. The John Carlos Story : "How Can You Ask Someone to Live in the World, and Not Have Something to Say about Injustice?" 2012 NAACP Image Award Nominee for Outstanding Literary Work--Biography/Autobiography "A powerful and poignant memoir."--Cornel West, from the foreword "John Carlos is an American hero. And finally he has written a memoir to tell us his story--and a powerful story it is. I couldn't put this book down."--Michael Moore Seen around the world, John Carlos and Tommie Smith's Black Power salute on the 1968 Olympic podium sparked controversy and career fallout. Read Full Overview. How the Black Power Protest at the 1968 Olympics Killed Careers. It’s an iconic image: Two athletes raise their fists on the Olympic podium. The photograph, taken after the 200 meter race at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, turned African-American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos from track-and-field stars into the center of a roiling controversy over their raised-fist salute, a symbol of Black power and the human rights movement at large. But look in the photo and you’ll see another man as well: silver medalist Peter Norman, a white Australian runner. Norman didn’t raise his fist that day, but he stood with Smith and Carlos. Though his show of solidarity ended up destroying Norman’s career, the three athletes’ actions that day would be just one in a line of protests on the athletic stage. U.S. athletes Tommie Smith, center, and John Carlos raise gloved hands skyward during the playing of the Star Spangled Banner after Smith received the gold and Carlos the bronze for the 200 meter run at the Summer Olympic Games in Mexico City, 1968. Smith and Carlos, who had won gold and bronze, respectively, agreed to use their medal wins as an opportunity to highlight the social issues roiling the United States at the time. Racial tensions were at a height, and the Civil Rights movement had given way to the Black Power movement. African-Americans like Smith and Carlos were frustrated by what they saw as the passive nature of the Civil Rights movement. They sought out active forms of protests and advocated for racial pride, Black nationalism and dramatic action rather than incremental change. It was only months after the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and protests against the Vietnam War were gaining steam as well. In the lead-up to the Olympics, Smith and Carlos helped organize the Olympic Project for Human Rights, a group that reflected their Black pride and social consciousness. The group saw the Olympic Games as an opportunity to agitate for better treatment of Black athletes and Black people around the world. Its demands included hiring more Black coaches and rescinding Olympic invitations to Rhodesia and South Africa, both of which practiced apartheid. Though the project initially proposed a boycott of the Olympics altogether, Smith and Carlos decided to compete in the hopes they could use their achievements as a platform for broader change. Mexico City police beating a protester during a student march days before the military gunned down hundreds of students during a similiar peaceful march at Tlatelolco Plaza in Mexico City. (Credit: AP Photo) Then, just 10 days before the opening of the Summer Games, an unarmed group of protesters assembled in Mexico City’s Three Cultures Square to plan the next move of the growing Mexican students’ movement. The Mexican government sent in bulldozers to disperse the thousands gathered, and troops fired into the crowd, massacring between four (the government’s official count) and 3,000 students. Carlos and Smith were deeply affected by these events and the plight of marginalized people around the world. “It was a cry for freedom and for human rights,” Smith told Smithsonian magazine in 2008. “We had to be seen because we couldn’t be heard.” The third man on the podium became part of the protest, too, albeit in a less direct way. Before winning silver, Norman was a working-class boy from Melbourne, Australia, born in 1942. His family members were devout members of the Salvation Army, an evangelical group connected with the charitable group better known to Americans. Part of that faith was the belief that all men were equal. Though he was poor growing up, Norman was an extraordinarily fast runner, and learned to race on spikes that his father, a butcher, borrowed due to lack of funds. In 1960, the teenager burst onto the national running scene as a junior, winning his first major title in Victoria. From then on, he became a major contender in Australian track and field. A powerful sprinter, his specialty was his finishes—an area in which some short-course runners falter. The final of the Men’s 200 meter event at the 1968 Summer Games. From left to right: Peter Norman of Australia, and Larry Questad, John Carlos and Tommie Smith of the United States. (Credit: Rolls Press/Popperfoto/Getty Images) He displayed that skill during the 200 meter final on October 16, 1968, at Mexico City’s Olympic Stadium. Though Norman had finished strong in the qualifying rounds, he was underestimated by the other runners—until, at the very end of the medal race, he edged in front of John Carlos at the finish line. “Out of nowhere, Norman stormed down the last 50 meters, taking the line before a shocked Carlos,” writes CNN’s James Montague. Norman finished his sprint second with a time of 20.06 seconds and qualified for a silver medal. At the time, Australia was experiencing racial tensions of its own. For years, it had been governed by its “White Australia Policy,” which dramatically limited immigration to the country by non-white people. While the Australian government welcomed new residents from predominantly white areas like the Baltics, it regularly turned down non-European migrants. In 1966, the government made the first steps toward abolishing the policy, but its effects reverberated throughout Australia. Non-Australians weren’t the only people discriminated against: Aboriginal Australians, too, were historically oppressed in the country, which forced Aboriginal children into boarding schools, while removing others from their families and placing them with white households. Norman supported his fellow Olympians’ protest, in part because of the intolerance he had witnessed in Australia. “Australia was not a crucible of tolerance,” notes Steve Georgakis, a sports studies specialist from Australia. “Norman, a teacher and guided by his Salvation Army faith, took part in the Black Power salute because of this opposition to racism and the White Australia Policy.” Peter Norman, Tommie Smith and John Carlos after receiving their medals. (Credit: Patrice Habans/Paris Match/Getty Images) As the athletes waited to go to the podium, Carlos and Smith told Norman that they planned to use their win as an opportunity to protest. Smith and Carlos decided to appear on the podium bearing symbols of protest and strength: black-socked feet without shoes to bring attention to Black poverty, beads to protest lynchings, and raised, black-gloved fists to represent their solidarity and support with Black people and oppressed people around the world. “I looked at my feet in my high socks and thought about all the Black poverty I’d seen from Harlem to East Texas. I fingered my beads and thought about the pictures I’d seen of the ‘strange fruit’ swinging from the poplar trees of the South,” Carlos later wrote. Carlos realized he had forgotten his gloves, and Norman suggested the American athletes share a pair. The Australian also asked how he could support his fellow medalists. They suggested he wear a badge for the Olympic Project for Human Rights. Norman didn’t raise his fist, but by wearing the badge he made his stance clear. As the American athletes raised their fists, the stadium hushed, then burst into racist sneers and angry insults. Smith and Carlos were rushed from the stadium, suspended by the U.S. team, and kicked out of the Olympic Village for turning their medal ceremony into a political statement. They went home to the United States, only to face serious backlash, including death threats. However, Carlos and Smith were both gradually re-accepted into the Olympic fold, and went on to careers in professional football before retiring. Norman, meanwhile, was punished severely by the Australian sports establishment. Though he qualified for the Olympic team over and over again, posting the fastest times by far in Australia, he was snubbed by the team in 1972. Rather than allow Norman to compete, the Australians did not send a sprinter at all. Peter Norman at Williamstown Beach, Australia, 2000. (Credit: Fairfax Media/Fairfax Media/Getty Images) Norman immediately retired from the sport and began to suffer from depression, alcoholism and a painkiller addiction. “During that time,” writes Caroline Frost for the BBC, “he used his silver medal as a doorstop.” Norman died without being acknowledged for his contributions to the sport. Though he kept his silver medal, he was regularly excluded from events related to the sport. Even when the Olympics came to Sydney in 2000, he was not recognized. When Norman died in 2006, Carlos and Smith, who had kept in touch with Norman for years, were pallbearers at the Australian’s funeral. It took until 2012 for the Australian government to apologize for the treatment Norman received in his home country. But even though it cost him his career and much of his happiness, Norman would have done it over again. “I won a silver medal,” he told the New York Times in 2000. “But really, I ended up running the fastest race of my life to become part of something that transcended the Games.” FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. SIGN UP FOR MORE HISTORY! Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. The John Carlos Story : "How Can You Ask Someone to Live in the World, and Not Have Something to Say about Injustice?" by John Wesley Carlos and Dave Zirin (2013, Trade Paperback) С самой низкой ценой, совершенно новый, неиспользованный, неоткрытый, неповрежденный товар в оригинальной упаковке (если товар поставляется в упаковке). 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