Black power at Olympics
The Olympic Games are about a lot of things; team spirit, national pride, the spirit of competition and the best athletics on the planet. What the event is usually never about is politics. But a story has come online on the BBC website about 200m sprinter Tommie Smith who in the 1968 Olympic Games won the gold medal and then gave a very political statement at the awards ceremony.
The story states, “African-American Tommie Smith won 200m Olympic gold at the Mexico City Games in 1968 but caused controversy by making a 'Black Power Salute' during the awards ceremony. It was a protest in the face of on-going black civil rights issues,” (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2 /hi/athletics/8681064.stm). The civil rights movement that took hold of America in the 60’s and 70’s was one of the biggest events that happened culturally to American society. It was such a powerful and all encompassing political and social movement that it paved the way for the first African-American president to enter the Oval Office in America’s history.
Why though was it such an important thing that Tommie Smith gave a Black Power Salute at the awards ceremony? It seems there are many reasons for why it was such a significant action to make at such an important event. Tommie Smith probably thought long and hard about the statement he was going to make at the awards ceremony because nothing that loud and confident is done without thought behind it. Before he could get onto the award stage though he had to win and so even if he was thinking about doing the Salute beforehand he had to make sure he got onto that podium and win a medal. Without winning a medal it wouldn’t have mattered and by winning a medal he found a way to get on the award stage and then give the Salute.
The first reason that he could have given the Black Power Salute at the award ceremony was to show solidarity with his people and the wrongs that were being done to them. He was able to show that his full support was with the African-Americans back home who were being prosecuted against and couldn’t take it anymore and it was time for them to join together and demand equal rights and full citizenship.
The second reason could be that he wanted to show people that even though black athletes are discriminated against and looked down upon they are equally as capable of competing as anyone else. By winning gold at the event Tommie Smith showed that he was actually better than the rest and all the discrimination that was shown against his people was completely unfounded and wrong and he had proved it in spectacular fashion.
The final reason could be that he knew the Olympic Games were a huge event and many people would be watching the event in the stadium and his message had the chance to reach a lot of people in the process. He knew his message would get a lot of press coverage and media attention and it would reach back home in America and a lot of people would know what he had done. He basically used the Olympic Games award ceremony as a platform to get his message out there and into the public sphere.
The final thing to ask is whether his show of the Salute had any effect in the grand scheme of things. It was an extremely political statement to make at the time and it showed people that he was a supporter of the Black Power movement. A lot of people watching and a lot of the press gathered must have been curious about his Salute and must have rushed out to find out what it was. In doing so they increased awareness among themselves and their country about what was happening to the African-Americans in America. It must have also had an impact on the movement and given it strength back home because the people conducting the movement now had a champion with whom they could invigorate the people to action. That one action had as much power as anything else done to get the African-American people the equal rights they so deserved.
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