LeVaughn Flynn, Staff Reporter
Tommie Smith gets a point across during his lecture at the Alfred Sangster Auditorium, University of Technology, last Monday. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer
LEGENDARY AMERICAN sprinter Tommie Smith touched on a number of topics during his lecture at the University of Technology on Monday.
He spoke of his gold medal, his world record and his friend and Jamaican schoolmate, Olympian Dennis Johnson.
But the small gathering at the university was really there to hear him speak of his 'silent gesture' his Black Power sign at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.
PUBLIC STATEMENT
Smith was a 200 metres Olympic champion in 1968.
However, at the end of the Games, Smith was not renowned for his gold medal or the world record (19.83) he set.
He along with friend and teammate John Carlos, who won bronze, both raised clenched fists fitted with black gloves in a public statement against the injustice blacks faced in America at the time.
Smith afterwards told the media that he raised his right, black-glove-covered fist in the air to represent black power in America, while Carlos' left, black-covered fist represented unity in black America. Together, they formed an arch of unity and power.
Smith also wore a black scarf around his neck, which stood for black pride and both men wore black socks (and no shoes) to represent black poverty in America.
As the gold medal winner, Smith became more identifiable with the protest than Carlos.
Smith's 'fist of freedom gesture' at the medal podium was criticised as much as it was praised. For blacks, they had another soldier in the fight for equality but, for others, Smith was a rebel.
"I had to get myself in the world's eye to make my statement," Smith said during his lecture at the Alfred Sangster Auditorium.
VIOLATED PRINCIPLES
That public statement angered the International Olympic Com-mittee (IOC).
An excerpt of the statement released by the IOC shortly after Smith's display read:
"The basic principle of the Olympic Games is that politics plays no part whatsoever in them. U.S. athletes violated this universally accepted principle ... to advertise domestic political views."
Smith and Carlos reportedly had their medals taken back and were kicked out of the Olympic Village, but Smith said there wasn't a chance of that happening.
"They'd have to cut my neck off first to get back that medal," he said. "There was no truth to those claims, they just wanted to use that as a sign that they were being tough."
ALWAYS CONSCIOUS
Jamaican Olympian Johnson, who also competed at '68 Olympics, was a schoolmate of Smith at San Jose State College in California.
"He always showed signs of being an activist while in school he was always very conscious," Johnson said. "The NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People) was having problems in the 1960s and he had an opportunity to tell the world that we (blacks) were not treated fairly, and he did that by showing the protest sign."
Johnson said Smith was very active taking part in marches while at San Jose but his part was a bit subtler.
"I did a couple of marches because I was very concerned but I wasn't as vocal as Tommie or Harry Edwards," Johnson said.
Edwards was the brains behind the Black Power salute at the Olympics. He initially wanted all black American athletes to boycott the Olympics but he did not have the full support of the athletes.
So, Edwards, Smith and Carlos planned the next best thing a pubic demonstration which would be seen and felt by tens of millions of people around the world.
"It was a well-organised move it wasn't a spur of the moment thing, and I was willing to sacrifice my fame for humanity," Smith stated.
Even non-blacks joined the cause as the 200 metres silver medallist Peter Norman, a white Australian, wore a human's right badge in support of Smith and Carlos.
Throughout his career, Smith set seven individual world records and also was a member of several world record relay teams at San Jose State. He became a member of the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1978.
In 1996, Smith was inducted into the California Black Sports Hall of Fame, and in 1999 he received the Sportsman of the Millennium Award.
Smith also received an honorary doctoral degree from his alma mater in 2005.
While in '60s and '70s, Smith was seen as an athlete who was socially/racially conscious, it is now the reverse where he is seen as an activist who was an athlete.
NO DISTINCTION
But for Smith there is no distinction.
"Tommie Smith has not changed from the victory stand to this podium stand," he declared while pointing to the fist of freedom portrait on a wall next to him.
His and Carlos' demonstration remains one of the most notable moments in human history and, in particular, the civil rights movement.
Polls have indicated that their demonstration was the sixth most memorable event of the 20th century. In 1998, Smith and Carlos were honoured for the stance they had taken 30 years earlier. It was the silent gesture that conveyed a most powerful message.
