Students at San Jose State University want to commemorate one of Olympic Games history’s most controversial political statements with a “black-power salute” statue, the Associated Press reported.
Funds are being collected to honor the medal-winning athletes who stunned the world when they bowed their heads and raised black-gloved fists during the playing of the U.S. national anthem at the 1968 Games in Mexico City.
 U.S. sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos give black-power salute at 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City |
Organizer Erik Grotz, a senior, found out only last year that sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos are San Jose State alumni and believes most students know nothing about them and the significance of the event, the AP said.
“I couldn’t understand why the campus didn’t acknowledge their efforts as student activists,” said Grotz, according to the AP.
He thinks the protest would resonate with students today.
“It would be an inspiration to other students,” he said. “It would prove to them they can make an impact now.”
The university is offering its expertise to help organize the campaign, which is run by the Associated Students.
Smith and Carlos saw their salute as a rebuke of the U.S. for its treatment of blacks. They appeared on the medal stand without their shoes, wearing black socks as a symbol of black poverty and slavery.
Their protest was met with a chorus of boos and expulsion by the International Olympic Committee.
Smith said at the time, “I couldn’t salute the flag in the accepted manner because it didn’t represent me fully; only asking me to be great on the track and then obliging me to come home and be just another n—–.”
“It was the fist that scared people … ,” Smith said. “White folks would have forgotten the black socks, the silk scarf and bowed head. But they saw that raised black fist and were afraid.”
When the men returned home, they received many death threats and were forced to keep a low profile. More recently, however, the former athletes have been honored for their act, including recognition in 1998 to mark the 30th anniversary of the event.
The Associated Press said San Jose State students plan to hold a reception on the 35th anniversary of the salute, Oct. 16, to announce the monument’s sculptor.
Alfonso de Alba, executive director of Associated Students, said it will provide an opportunity for the university to finally give the athlete’s proper recognition.
“Thirty-five years ago they were chastised and shunned by the community,” said Alba, according to the AP. “Years later, we want to say welcome back. This is the way it should have been.”
