The Legacy of the 1968 Olympics Black Power Salute

Brut America

Olympians Tommie Smith and John Carlos made a daring and controversial statement at the 1968 Olympics. Their careers crumbled afterwards, but their legacy lives on.

Transcript

00:00Doing the right thing is not an easy thing to do for me or anyone else.

00:29My implementation was freedom, was equality and not separatism.

00:59You my opposer when I want freedom, you my opposer when I want justice, you my opposer

01:06when I want equality.

01:07You won't even stand up for me in America for my religious beliefs and you want me to

01:08go somewhere and fight, but you won't even stand up for me here at home.

01:10You my opposer when I want freedom, you my opposer when I want justice, you my opposer

01:11when I want equality.

01:12You won't even stand up for me in America for my religious beliefs and you want me to

01:13go somewhere and fight, but you won't even stand up for me here at home.

01:36The decision of what I did was negative because I raised the fist toward what's supposed to

01:42be our greatest creation is the American flag.

02:01But I cannot sit and tell you how difficult it was, that it was mighty difficult and

02:08a lot of people could not have stood, withstood the pressure that I stood moving forward.

02:28He was a man in his own right.

02:52He didn't need, he did not need Tommy Smith and John Carlos to believe in what he did

02:57and that was the power of that human rights stand in Mexico City in 1968, togetherness.

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