On Oct. 16, 1968, the Summer Olympic Games in Mexico City saw two Black athletes and San José State alumni, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, take a stand in activism, leaving a historical impact.
In the midst of political movements and racial discrimination, Smith and Carlos shocked the world when each raised one of their fists wearing a black glove while having their heads down on the podium with the United States national anthem playing.
Smith had won gold in the 200-meter dash with 19.83 seconds, setting a world record at the time, while Carlos earned bronze, according to a National Film and Sound Archive of Australia webpage.
Both of their actions later became known as the Black Power salute, an iconic statement made to go against the systematic oppression and racial discrimination of Black people in the United States, according to an Oct. 15, 2023 BBC article.
Olympic Bronze medalist Carlos reflected on the importance of making his statement.
“We were concerned about humanity and that encompassed the world,” Carlos said. “We had to make a statement to reach the far ends of the earth that might have gone through some tragedy relative to racism or prejudice.”
He also said that prejudice was not only a problem in the United States, but a universal problem as well. He thought the Olympics were the place to make a statement to represent those that had no representation and to also set the visual for it.
Besides having their fists in the air to represent solidarity, both went shoeless and wore black socks on the podium to protest poverty, Carlos wore beads that represented the lynchings while Smith wore a black scarf representing black pride, according to an Oct. 16, 2018, ACLU article.
“This was a very positive sense, and we felt that every Black person or person of color should be very proud at this moment,” Carlos said.
However, their actions came with serious personal and career consequences such as being suspended from the U.S. Olympic team and receiving death threats, according to a May 25, 2021, History.com article.
“They tried to discredit us as athletes and tried to discredit us as human beings,” Carlos said.
Carlos recalled being called all sorts of names including him and Smith being referred to as communists and also remembered the sudden quietness of the crowd once the two held up their fists.
However, they also received praise they had gotten from other people.
“People were applauding us and people had tears in their eyes for what we did,” Carlos said. “They had been feeling this strain of society on them for a long time in terms of how society might have a blind eye to this sacrifice of suffering people of color.”
A year prior in 1967, American sociologist and civil rights activist, Dr. Harry Edwards, created the Olympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR) to advocate for Black athletes internationally, according to a Centre for Sport & Human Rights webpage.
“During the four years that I was at San José State as an athlete for three and a half years, there was never even an African American interviewed for a coaching job, not even as an assistant over that period of time,” Edwards said.
As of 2024, there are 3.3% of Black students at San José State, according to an SJSU webpage.
In 1965, the Voting Rights Act was passed, which led to rioting in Los Angeles after a Black motorist was arrested, according to an NAACP web page.
Three years later, notable figures such as civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated, according to an April 10 AP News article.
“This was an opportunity for Black power, literally to become manifest and to use it in sport to leverage the change that was long overdue at San José State,” Edwards said.
In 1968, Edwards’s human rights project was originally going to boycott the Olympics if their demands were not met, garnering support from Smith and Carlos as they eventually wore OPHR badges on the podium, according to a UCSD webpage.
However, Carlos changed his mind and decided to compete in the Olympics.
“I promised my kids I was going to win a medal,” Carlos said. “ … I want to win a medal for America.”
Edwards said that in 1967 he organized a protest to boycott a football game calling that time for Black people to use their power founded upon SJSU’s athletic involvement.
He and Ken Noel established the United Black Students for Action and set demands for black students including unfair treatment and segregation of black students which caused the USBA co-founders to organize a boycott of the football game in 1967, according to a Washington Square article.
“We had an obligation to use that, not just for the not just in the interest of black people, but in the interest of American society and the American people,” Edwards said.
Bob Gliner, a former sociology professor at SJSU and documentary film director, recalled protests occurring on campus during the times of the civil rights movement.
He started teaching at San José State in the fall of 1968, shortly after the Olympics.
“The civil rights issue has aligned with other campuses around the country, so San José State played a significant role during that time period,” Gliner said.
However, the former Olympian’s actions not only made an impact on current black activism and sport activism, but their actions were also commemorated by San José State.
In 2005, SJSU honored its alumni by commissioning a mosaic and fiberglass monument of Smith and Carlos known as the Victory Salute, located in front of Robert D. Clark Hall and centrally placed on the Tommie Smith and John Carlos Lawn, according to an SJSU webpage.
20 years later, Carlos called the statue special to him because of his mom seeing it and believes that the statue resonated with a handful of young student athletes and students.
“So that’s tremendous in terms of the fact that they put it in the institution and education, because all this whole scenario is about educating individuals, about finding out who you are and why you are,” Carlos said.
