Opting Not to Err on the Side of Caution

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What can be gleaned from the Black Power salute on the 16th of October by U.S.A. gold medalist Tommie Smith and bronze medalist John Carlos? Why is this causing such uproar among us?  Was this a human rights presentation or a Black power presentation? The International Olympic Committee president called for the suspension of Smith and Carlos and this, in turn, has led to both athletes being expelled from the Olympic Games. There has been a call to boycott the Mexico City games entirely and rightly so.

It can, of course, be reasoned that Smith and Carlos chose the wrong spot to perform their human rights demonstration, yet it was done. What is done is done, correct? "At a press conference, after the event Tommie Smith said 'If I win I am an American, not a black American. But if I did something bad then they would say a Negro. We are black and we are proud of being black. Black America will understand what we did tonight.'”   America can understand what Smith and Carlos did as the time was then to do it. Performing such demonstrations has always caused a ruckus among those who feel that people should keep silent, not say a word, and act as if all is well in the world when it is not. Martin Luther King wrote about this in his papers. African Americans are treated poorly and it was important for Smith and Carlos to evoke the raising of the fists as a symbol of Black unity. If African Americans cannot be unified in the cause of human rights in general, as well as their own; how can progression occur within the world regarding equality? Smith and Carlos could have erred on the side of caution, but the raising of the fist provided much more brevity in their open display.

Before a discourse on the correct option of the Black athletes in boycotting the Games is started, let us first discuss what human rights are. Human rights are commonly referred to as the standard-bearer for all peoples and all nations. "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in the United Nations Declaration, without distinction of any kind such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, poverty, birth or other status. Everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of person."   Given this particular definition, Smith and Carlos were well within their freedoms to display such a presentation at the Games, regardless of public opinion.

They made the conscious decision to raise their fists to send a message about human rights and its purpose in our world. The decision of clothing: Smith with his black scarf representing black pride, Carlos in an unzipped tracksuit to show solidarity to blue-collar workers in the United States in addition to a necklace of beads that he described "were for those individuals that were lynched, or killed and that no-one said a prayer for, that were hung and tarred."    It was for those thrown off the side of the boats in the middle passage. All three athletes [we cannot forget silver medalist Peter Norman from Australia] wore Olympic Project for Human Rights badges. This was a decision based on Peter Norman's urging as he was a critic of Australia's White Australia Policy.   Their behavior was carefully executed and who can blame them for being passionate about their cause. The country needs more men like them who speak out in ways that may be uncomfortable for the current climate but is needed to evoke change. Our country will never evolve if we do not have conscious individuals speaking out in a variety of ways to provoke this evolution.  Smith and Carlos’ moment was the moment of the Olympic Games. And now they are punished for expressing their rights as individuals? The boycott must happen for Black athletes. It is the principle of the matter. 

Even sociologist, Harry Edwards who is the founder of the Olympic Project for Human Rights agrees that such a boycott is in order.   Edwards writes in his dialogue, "the conspicuous position of black athletes in American culture contrasted sharply with the inferior place of African Americans as a people. Seizing upon this disparity, black activists sought to illustrate the issue through a number of confrontations around an athletic event. The Olympic Project for Human Rights was organized to use the international spotlight of the Olympics to highlight race problems."   So, the Black athletes are perfectly within their rights as humans to boycott the Olympic Games if they so fit. Not solely because Edwards has deemed it acceptable, but because it is the right thing to do for the cause of human rights and for African American people. A stand is needed in order for any alteration in the way the race is viewed to begin.

It is fascinating that such an exhibition would be deemed a breach of Olympic spirit by Brundage, considering in 1936, no objection had been made against Nazi salutes during the Berlin Olympics.   Brundage, in fact, offered no qualms or trepidations about it. Ah, yes, the proverbial double standard at work. Why was that display peachy keen, but the raising of the fists by Smith and Carlos a lighting of the ruckus torch? The racial undercurrent of Brundage is laid open like a wound that will not stop bleeding without a bandage. 

The outrage of the Black athletes to boycott the Games after such a double standard is conceivably the correct option given Brundage's handling of the 1936 Olympics which offered a similar spectacle. Since their raising of the fists, Smith and Carlos have been ostracized and treated like despicable vermin and been the subject of death threats.   We should be sympathetic to their cause. Smith and Carlos believed they were doing the right thing by raising their fists and within the objective of human rights and its agenda in the world, they were. How can any of us argue against that? The United States has always proclaimed to stand for the rights of all; however, it does not appear that this is the case given the treatment that Smith and Carlos have been subjected to since their demonstration.

So what will this so-called boycott that the Black athletes do? The definition of a boycott is an act of willingly abstaining from dealing with a particular event or organization, or even a person as an expression of protecting.   This is typically done for social or political reasons. In the case of Smith and Carlos, and Norman for that matter; the direct conclusion of the situation is for the Black athletes to boycott the games. While protests have often drawn many different kinds of endings, this is the only way in order for the message of equality and human rights to get across that Black people (athletes included) are more than just objects for the United States to play. Mere chess pieces that can be moved around for the purpose of highlighting the so-called mom's apple pie and American flag freedoms. 

There is much to be said about the fundamental aspect of a boycott. Even more to be said about the significance of Black athletes boycotting the Olympic Games. These athletes have to and must take a stand especially since Brundage was one of the most prominent Nazi sympathizers following the Second World War.   This expulsion of Smith and Carlos from the Games is nothing to quote a spokesman for the IOC, "deliberate."    The message that this will send is one of racial equality, respect for the fellow man even in the arena of sport and hopefully a discussion on human rights and its importance. But Smith and Carlos were right to perform their protest for the rights of all people, even in the murkiness of what “was already [a] deeply divided [United States] over the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement, and the serial traumas of 1968—mounting antiwar protests, the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, the beating of protesters during the Democratic National Convention by Chicago police—put those rifts into high relief.”   Regardless of these events, it was the time and place for such a demonstration.

There will undoubtedly be those who are unmoved by the boycott saying that the United States can prevail and be successful in the Games without black athletes. Is this true? Unfortunately, a crystal ball can be looked at or a magic 8 ball can’t be shaken to give us a glimpse of what is to come with this boycott, or even what is to come of Smith and Carlos, and their demonstration. It is important that the black athletes not err on the side of caution and cease boycotting the Olympic Games. It is not a matter of whether a boycott is the right thing to do or not, it is that it is the only thing that can be done to send a serious message.

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