Tommie Smith
Tommie Smith won the 200-meter gold medal at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics and then raised his black-gloved fist on the medal podium alongside bronze medalist John Carlos in one of the most iconic images of the twentieth century. The gesture was a silent protest against racial injustice in America.
The response was swift and brutal. Smith and Carlos were expelled from the Olympic Village and received death threats. The U.S. Olympic Committee suspended them. They came home not to parades but to hatred.
Smith had set a world record in the race — 19.83 seconds — but the record was overshadowed by what he did after. Decades later, the protest is recognized as one of the most courageous acts in sports history. A statue of the moment stands at San Jose State University, where Smith ran track.
If I win, I am an American, not a Black American. But if I did something bad, then they would say I am a Negro.— Tommie Smith
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