Sod the hackneyed image of Che and its 1001 imitations that followed , for me the picture to the left has always been the enduring iconic image from the turbulent sixties.
Everyone should already know about Tommy Smith and John Carlos, and their brave stance on the medal podium at the Mexico Olympics in 1968, where they raised awareness of the issue of continuing poverty* and lack of progress in civil rights for the black working class in the United States before the watching millions but Hak Mao's post on her blog notes the small but nonetheless meaningful contribution made by the Australian athlete on the podium that night, Peter Norman, who died Tuesday of a heart attack at the age of 64.
There's an excellent article by the American sports journalist, Dave Zirin, from last year about the unveiling of a statue of Smith and Carlos at San Jose State University marking that moment from '68, and the continuing relevance of their actions that night, and perhaps mention should also be made in this post of the "wound on the national conscience"** that preceded those Olympics.*John Carlos in an interview with Dave Zirin that appeared in the December 2003 issue of Z magazine is quoted as saying:
"We wanted the world to know that in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, South Central Los Angeles, and Chicago people were still walking back and forth in poverty without even the necessary clothes to live. We have kids that don’t have shoes even today. It’s not like the powers that be can’t provide these things. They can send a spaceship to the moon or send a probe to Mars, yet they can’t give shoes? They can’t give health care? I’m just not naïve enough to accept that."
**The official figures of 25 killed in the Tlatelolco Massacre are disputed by many, with the counter-claim that the true number of protestors killed that night was somewhere between 200-300 people.
4 comments:
That picture is marvellous. Truly iconic. I posted myself a while ago on this http://www.gentheoryrubbish.com/archives/000456.html
the piece I link to has also mention of Norman;here's the url: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,4-1832384,00.html
Thank you for this post, and for the various links attached.
As someone who was a little kid, however politically aware(within the limits of a little kid)in the America of the late '60s and early '70s, found the athletes' gesture at the time to be very frightening, etc, as I was, and still am in many ways, a product of the particular social context(lower-middle-class to working class, European-American living in the Western US, which is a pretty conservative region), in which I was raised.
Now, at 42(to-day's me birthday)years of age, and with at least some more education and experience under my belt, the gesture doesn't seem anywhere near as Oh, So Big, Bad and Bloody Frightening to me then as now.
One of the hardest facts that I, and I think more than a few European-Americans still have trouble learning this concept, is that most African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Latinos of various origins, and so on, don't want to, in no particular order, drink their liquor, steal their cars, burn their houses down, rape their wives, daughters, sisters, girl-friends or boy-friends, and shoot themselves into mass graves.
What they DO want, I think, and I could be wrong, is to treated as fairly as possible, to be able to have enough to eat for themselves and their kin-folk, not to have to go about in raggedy-arse clothes, work crap jobs for crap pay, and be subjected to all manner of harrasment from law enforcement personnel, and just plain knuckleheads who think that, 'cos they're a rootin', tootin', shootin', White Man, By God!!!,they've the right to act like murderous ninnies.
It means, in short, having much the same shot at livin' and improvin' one's life, as anyone else, and bein' left decently alone.
Maybe, I'm wrong about that, but, that's how it seems to me.
But, it amazes me just how long it took me to learn that basic fact, and that some European-Americans, of every class and condition, still haven't learnt it at all, and probably never will.
If public gestures like that can effectively call attention to the crap that our society and government pull, so much the better.
Sometimes, they don't work, or their original meaning's successfully mis-interpreted or spun 'round on their heads entirely by those who oppose them.
Still, they're worth a try.
Am gonna close out by saying one of my favourite phrases from one of my favourite tv shows of all time, "The Prisoner", "Be Seeing You(and I hope not in either Guantamano Bay nor whatever modern version of the Village that someone's cooked up somewhere).
I'm about nine months older than figurepornography. I too remember how scary the event seemed. My mother tutted almost as much as she did whenever the Grunwick pickets were on TV (and she a trade union convenor!) That's why the image is all the more wonderful. They put bombs under arses.
Little known Black Power factoid:
Can anyone tell me the original source for Malcolm X's:
"We didn't land on Plymouth Rock. Plymouth Rock landed on us!"
?
Try here.
Thanks for the link to the Cole Porter song quote, Edward!!!!
I wonder how many of those who heard Malcolm X say that recognised where he got it from.
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