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John Carlos Sees Parallels in ’68 & Wall Street Protests
Date: Friday, October 07, 2011, 5:05 am
By: Glenn Minnis, special to Blackamericaweb.com
John Carlos sat motionless, eyes fixated on his new Sony flat screen, thousands upon thousands of miles away fromall the Wall Street drama. But in his heart, in his conscientious mind of minds, the man who struck one of the most iconic poses in all of protest history, one which came to symbolize both the oppression and the will of the people during the most turbulent times this nation has known, stood shoulder-to-shoulder with all his indignant siblings.
“We’ve come full circle, the same paradigm that was before all those years ago now exist once again,” sighed Carlos, who used the Olympics stage in 1968 to raise his black gloved fist in a Black Power-like salute alongside Tommie Smith as “The Star Spangled Banner” played to dramatize all the incongruities that had come to typify American way.
At the Mexico City Olympics in 1968, gold medalist Tommie Smith, Silver Medalist Australian Peter Norman and Carlos all made political statements on the medal stand were they accepted their prizes for the 200 meter run. According to his website, www.johncarlos.org, Carlos wore black socks and no shoes “to represent impoverished people who had no shoes of their own” and raised a black-gloved fist. Smith also raised his fist and Norman wore an Olympic Project for Human Rights badge.
The photo of the three men became a symbol of the fight for human rights, but Smith and Carlos were suspended from the U.S. team and banned from the Olympic Village by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). No action was taken by the IOC against Norman.
Carlos is now a counselor in-school suspension supervisor, and the track and field coach at Palm Springs High School in California. He has written a memoir, “The John Carlos Story.”
“Almost 50-years later and here we are again,” Carlos said in an interview from his Southern California home. “So much strife, so much poverty, so much separation between those who have and those who don’t. The will of the people is simply not being met. In ‘68, a young man named Bobby Kennedy came along with a beautiful vision and a mandate for change that put this county back on a higher path. This time, it’s Barack Obama’s vision… if only we’d give it a chance to manifest itself.”
All up and down Wall Street Wednesday, the biggest crowd to date since the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations began some three weeks ago gathered to protest the concentration of wealth in the hands of one percent of the nation’s population. The 99 Percenters, as organizers call themselves, said they were tired of the will and the welfare of the people being blatantly ignored.
“We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments,” the organizers said in a statement.
“For those who argue we don’t have a rallying cry our anger is with Wall Street, all the economic inequality, all the greed,” said Adam Ash, a South African now living in New York who has camped at the scene of the demonstrations since Day One. “When people say we don’t have demands, they’re wrong. We’re here to point out the massive inequality, both economically and socially.”
Later in the evening, Ash and about 3,000 others were planning their largest march, spanning Wall Street to City Hall and then ending at nearby Zuccotti Park. Students from Columbia and New York Universities and The New School were planning to stage class walkouts and join the demonstrations.
Last week, in a move many said was aimed at quelling or at least dampening the movement’s building momentum, New York City police arrested more than 700 protestors, alleging they were obstructing traffic along the nearby Brooklyn Bridge.
“With what’s happening in this country right now any fair-minded person would have to admit righteousness is on the side of the people,” said Carlos. “But oh yeah, you have to still yourself, be strong in your resolve because more than likely it will be tested,” added Carlos, whose book details his exile from the Olympic Village and its aftermath, including considered persona non grata and going unemployed for more than a year after returning home and losing his first wife to suicide – all because he decided to take a stand.
“What the powers that be need to realize is that moments like these aren’t so about simply showing defiance,” said Carlos. “As human beings, particularly as it relates to blacks and other minorities, we all want to feel like we can make a place for ourselves in this land. At the end of the day, we’re all hoping, fighting and praying for the same thing and that’s to be able to provide for and take care of those who mean the most to us.”
“It’s about democracy; it’s about everyone having a chance to speak and be heard,” Justin Brown of Brooklyn, who joined in on the protests about a week ago, said as about a thousand protestors headed north toward City Hall and back to Zuccotti Park..
“It’s about all of us being able to live our lives as best we can without the corporate demigods taking heartless advantage of the system and basically leaving everyone else out to dry up and perish.”
Date: Friday, October 07, 2011, 5:05 am
By: Glenn Minnis, special to Blackamericaweb.com
John Carlos sat motionless, eyes fixated on his new Sony flat screen, thousands upon thousands of miles away fromall the Wall Street drama. But in his heart, in his conscientious mind of minds, the man who struck one of the most iconic poses in all of protest history, one which came to symbolize both the oppression and the will of the people during the most turbulent times this nation has known, stood shoulder-to-shoulder with all his indignant siblings.
“We’ve come full circle, the same paradigm that was before all those years ago now exist once again,” sighed Carlos, who used the Olympics stage in 1968 to raise his black gloved fist in a Black Power-like salute alongside Tommie Smith as “The Star Spangled Banner” played to dramatize all the incongruities that had come to typify American way.
At the Mexico City Olympics in 1968, gold medalist Tommie Smith, Silver Medalist Australian Peter Norman and Carlos all made political statements on the medal stand were they accepted their prizes for the 200 meter run. According to his website, www.johncarlos.org, Carlos wore black socks and no shoes “to represent impoverished people who had no shoes of their own” and raised a black-gloved fist. Smith also raised his fist and Norman wore an Olympic Project for Human Rights badge.
The photo of the three men became a symbol of the fight for human rights, but Smith and Carlos were suspended from the U.S. team and banned from the Olympic Village by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). No action was taken by the IOC against Norman.
Carlos is now a counselor in-school suspension supervisor, and the track and field coach at Palm Springs High School in California. He has written a memoir, “The John Carlos Story.”
“Almost 50-years later and here we are again,” Carlos said in an interview from his Southern California home. “So much strife, so much poverty, so much separation between those who have and those who don’t. The will of the people is simply not being met. In ‘68, a young man named Bobby Kennedy came along with a beautiful vision and a mandate for change that put this county back on a higher path. This time, it’s Barack Obama’s vision… if only we’d give it a chance to manifest itself.”
All up and down Wall Street Wednesday, the biggest crowd to date since the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations began some three weeks ago gathered to protest the concentration of wealth in the hands of one percent of the nation’s population. The 99 Percenters, as organizers call themselves, said they were tired of the will and the welfare of the people being blatantly ignored.
“We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments,” the organizers said in a statement.
“For those who argue we don’t have a rallying cry our anger is with Wall Street, all the economic inequality, all the greed,” said Adam Ash, a South African now living in New York who has camped at the scene of the demonstrations since Day One. “When people say we don’t have demands, they’re wrong. We’re here to point out the massive inequality, both economically and socially.”
Later in the evening, Ash and about 3,000 others were planning their largest march, spanning Wall Street to City Hall and then ending at nearby Zuccotti Park. Students from Columbia and New York Universities and The New School were planning to stage class walkouts and join the demonstrations.
Last week, in a move many said was aimed at quelling or at least dampening the movement’s building momentum, New York City police arrested more than 700 protestors, alleging they were obstructing traffic along the nearby Brooklyn Bridge.
“With what’s happening in this country right now any fair-minded person would have to admit righteousness is on the side of the people,” said Carlos. “But oh yeah, you have to still yourself, be strong in your resolve because more than likely it will be tested,” added Carlos, whose book details his exile from the Olympic Village and its aftermath, including considered persona non grata and going unemployed for more than a year after returning home and losing his first wife to suicide – all because he decided to take a stand.
“What the powers that be need to realize is that moments like these aren’t so about simply showing defiance,” said Carlos. “As human beings, particularly as it relates to blacks and other minorities, we all want to feel like we can make a place for ourselves in this land. At the end of the day, we’re all hoping, fighting and praying for the same thing and that’s to be able to provide for and take care of those who mean the most to us.”
“It’s about democracy; it’s about everyone having a chance to speak and be heard,” Justin Brown of Brooklyn, who joined in on the protests about a week ago, said as about a thousand protestors headed north toward City Hall and back to Zuccotti Park..
“It’s about all of us being able to live our lives as best we can without the corporate demigods taking heartless advantage of the system and basically leaving everyone else out to dry up and perish.”