The Melissa Harris Perry Show: Activism in the Olympics w/ John Carlos

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1968 Olympic Bronze Medalist in Track & Field, John Carlos; 1964 Olympic Gold Medalist in Swimming, Donna de Varona; Jemele Hill; Dave Zirin

Book Review | The John Carlos Story: The Sports Moment That Changed the World

Daring Then, Daring Now: The John Carlos Story

Book Review by David J. Leonard | NewBlackMan

Having studied the 1968 Olympic protest, having conducted an interview with Harry Edwards on the revolt of the black athlete, and being someone dedicated to understanding the interface between sports, race and struggles for justice, I was of course excited about the publication of John Carlos’ autobiography, The John Carlos Story: The Sports Moment that Changed the World.  Written with Dave Zirin, the book provides an inspiring discussion of the 1968 Olympics without reducing the amazing life of John Carlos to the 1968 Olympics.  More than 1968 or the protests in Mexico City, it chronicles a life of resistance, of refusing to accept the injustices that encompass the African American experience.

John Carlos challenged American racism from an early age.  Readers learn of a young man who “went around Harlem handing out food and clothes like Robin Hood and his merry men in Technicolor” (p. 21).  Recognizing the level of poverty and injustice in Harlem, and refusing to stand idly by, a young Carlos would break into freight trains to steal food with the purpose of giving it to those who had been swallowed up by the system.

The experience of stealing groceries and good and giving the people something for nothing was positive.  Just doing this kind of so-called work opened up my mind and got me to notice what was going on around me.  I couldn’t turn my back when I saw evidence of discrimination in the community.  I captured it in my mind every time I saw anyone in my neighborhood mistreated by the police (p. 27).

These experiences, like his having to give up on the dream of becoming an Olympic swimmer as a result of societal racism, not only politicized Carlos, but also instilled in him a passion and commitment to help others reach their dreams.  It taught about the power and necessity of imagining and fighting for “freedom dreams.”

The John Carlos Story chronicles the ways he has lived a life guided by the philosophy articulated by Fredrick Douglas that “power concedes nothing without demand.”  From his organizing a strike at his high school against “the nasty slop they called ‘food’” (p. 33) to his insistence that the manager at the housing protects where he lived address the problem of caterpillars in the courtyard, John Carlos demanded accountability and justice long before 1968. 

His book illustrates the level of courage he has shown throughout his life.  When the manager refused to address the caterpillar problem, which prevented his mother from joining others in the courtyard because of allergic reactions, Carlos once again lived by the creed: power concedes nothing without demand.  John Carlos has lived a life of demanding justice and in the face of refusal demanding yet again.  He describes his response in this case as follows: 

Then I took the cap off the can and doused the first tree in front of me with gasoline.  Then I reached for a box of long, thick wooden matches.  After that first tree was soaked, I struck one of the stick matches against my zipper and threw it at the tree and watched.  It was a sought: the fire just as that tree like it was a newspaper and turned it into a fireball of fried caterpillars  (p. 41).

The compelling life that Carlos and Zirin document extends beyond his youth further reveals a life dedicated to justice.  His refusal to accept the racism and the mistreatment experienced while living in Texas encapsulates how America’s racism and systematic efforts to deny both the humanity and citizenship of African Americans compelled Carlos’ activism as a young man and ultimately as an Olympian.

The protest at the 1968 Olympics should not be a surprise given the racial violence experienced by Carlos and his brothers and sisters throughout United States (and the world at large).  His involvement was in many ways an organic outgrowth of his life:

I remember the moment when I was locked in on the medial stand protest and I knew in my gut that it wasn’t just about 1968.  It wasn’t just about Vietnam, Dr. King’s assassination, the murders of the Mexican students, or the media tag about some Age of Aquarius ‘Revolts of the Black Athlete.’  It was about everything that led up to 1968.  It was about the stories my father told me about fighting in the First World War.  It was about the terrible things he was asked to do for a freedom he was denied when he returned home.

              

It was about him being told where he could live, where his kids could go to school, and how low the ceiling would be on his very life.  I thought about how long ago the First World War seemed to me.  It felt, on the other hand, like a time and place beyond my understanding.  But on the other, I thought about how similar things were in 1968 compared to those long ago days.  I thought about a world where I was encouraged to run but not to speak (p. 111)

The power and beauty of the book rests with its efforts to contextualize or explain who John Carlos is rather than simply chronicle what he did in 1968.  John Carlos is not an athlete who protested at the 1968 Olympics, but a man, an activist, a freedom fighter who challenged racism and equality throughout his life.  The Olympics was one stop in his journey to “Let America be America again.”

Yet the power of the book extends beyond telling his life’s story but with its efforts to challenge the ways that the 1968 Olympic protest is used in contemporary media discourse.  So often used to demonize contemporary athletes or to reflect on the purported conflicts that plagued Carlos and the other participants, The John Carlos Story pushes back against the continued exploitation of this history to advance contemporary arguments.  It challenges the sensationalism that has become commonplace within our historic memory.  For example, while much of the historiography juxtaposes Smith and Carlos with George Foreman, who at the Mexico City games carried an American flag in the ring, The John Carlos Story takes a different tone, focusing instead on the shared experiences (and Foreman helping him during a time of need), elucidating the ways in which their constructed identities as good and bad black athletes are used to control, silence, and stifle protest.

The power of the book is made clear in the afterword, where Dave Zirin brilliantly celebrates John Carlos in relationship to the courage and fighting spirit of today’s athletes:

As a new generation of athletes and activists raise its fist, they can rest in the confidence that it’s been done before, John Carlos dared and continues to dare to more than just a brand.  He has dared to live by a set of principles of great personal and professional costs.  It’s a standard we should all aspire toward . . . if we dare(p. 184)

Carlos continues to dare and inspire athletes and activists alike, traversing the country with Dave Zirin, often joining the Occupy movements in various cities.  This is fitting since the struggle for justice and equality didn’t begin or end in 1968 for John Carlos.  The fight continues.

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David J. Leonard is Associate Professor in the Department of Critical Culture, Gender and Race Studies at Washington State University, Pullman. He is the author of Screens Fade to Black: Contemporary African American Cinema and the forthcoming After Artest: Race and the War on Hoop(SUNY Press). Leonard is a regular contributor to NewBlackMan and blogs @ No Tsuris.

John Carlos and Dave Zirin Discuss 'The John Carlos Story'

The Michael Eric Dyson Show

Friday October 7, 2011

John Carlos and Dave Zirin Bring Us The John Carlos Story

It’s one of the most lasting images in Olympic and Civil Rights History: after winning the gold and bronze medals in the 200-meter dash at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Americans Tommie Smith and John Carlos each raised an arm in salute to Black Power to the sound of the Star Spangled Banner. This week, some 43 years after that courageous act, one of those men publishes his life story in The John Carlos Story. Carlos joins us to discuss the book along with Dave Zirin, a renowned author, sports journalist, and host of the Edge of Sports on Sirius|XM radio. Zirin writes a popular weekly online sports column of the same name and helped write the book.

Listen Now: John Carlos and Dave Zirin