Peter Norman, Unsung Hero of the 1968 Olympics “Black Power” Protest

#HandsUpDontShoot, #ICantBreathe,

#TakeDownTheFlag and

#WhoIsBurningBlackChurches, new

movements are brewing and people are

searching for ways to do their part to

fight racial injustice. When people ask

how they can help in the midst of

everything that is being thrown at us, I

can’t help but think of Peter Norman.

Who, you ask? He’s the man on the left,

the Australian Silver medalist in that

iconic photo with Tommie Smith and John

Carlos – the Gold and Bronze medalists –

at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico

City.

On October 16, 1968, Smith and Carlos

took the victory stand with their heads

bowed and eyes closed, their hands

raised with black gloves, and fists

clenched. Their “black power salute”

during the playing of the Star-Spangled

Banner was a silent protest by these

athletes against racial injustice, and their

statement, viewed then as a

controversial combination of Olympic

sports and politics, sent shock waves

throughout the games.

The unsung hero of the Black Power fist

salute, Norman not only suggested that

Smith and Carlos share Smith’s pair of

black gloves, he also wore a badge in

solidarity with the Olympic Project for

Human Rights (OPHR), an organization

that called for a boycott of the Olympics

by black athletes, banning apartheid

South Africa and Rhodesia from the

Olympics, the hiring of black coaches and

the restoration of Muhammad Ali’s

boxing title. Norman spoke out against

racism in America and in his native

Australia, where Aboriginal people were

first counted in the census the year

before, had been given the right to vote

only three years earlier, and were forcibly

removed from their families under a

White Australia policy.

“I couldn’t see why a black man wasn’t

allowed to drink out of the same water

fountain or sit in the same bus or go to

the same schools as a white guy,” said

Norman, who had a strong Salvation

Army upbringing. “That was just social

injustice that I couldn’t do anything

about from where I was, but I certainly

abhorred it.”

The actions of Smith – the gold medalist

in the 200-meter race – and Carlos – the

bronze winner – must be viewed within

the context of the times in which the

men lived. And the times were turbulent

and divisive. After all, Dr. Martin Luther

King, Jr. and Senator Robert F. Kennedy

had been assassinated only months

before the games at Mexico City. The

United States was engulfed in anti-

Vietnam War protests and civil rights

demonstrations. Antiwar protestors had

been beaten by police during the

Democratic National Convention in

Chicago. There were calls for black power

in African-American communities

throughout the nation, and the Black

Panther Party had expanded to cities

across America. And the U.S. Supreme

Court had struck down the Jim Crow

antimiscegenation laws only a year

earlier.

On the victory stand, the symbolism of

the political statement made by Smith

and Carlos had been well planned. The

two athletes wore black socks with no

shoes to represent “black poverty in a

racist America,” while Smith wore a black

scarf around his neck standing for black

pride. Carlos – who wore beads for those

who were lynched and died in the Middle

Passage – raised his left fist to represent

black unity. And Smith raised his right

fist for black power in the U.S. Together,

the men represented unity and power.

“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,”

Smith said at a press conference after

the event. “Black America will

understand what we did tonight.”

As a result of their black power salute,

Smith and Carlos were suspended by the

U.S. Olympic Committee for a “willful

disregard of Olympic principles.” In an

official statement, the U.S. Committee

expressed “its profound regrets” to the

International Olympic committee, the

Mexican Organizing Committee and to

the people of Mexico, referring to the

black power salute as “discourtesy” and

“immature behavior.”

“The untypical exhibitionism of these

athletes also violates the basic standards

of good manners and sportsmanship,

which are so highly valued in the United

States, and therefore the two men

involved are suspended forthwith from

the team and ordered to remove

themselves from the Olympic Village,”

the statement continued.

The U.S. Olympic Committee warned all

other athletes, regardless of color, that

any further protests would carry “severe”

penalties. Smith and Carlos were

suspended from the team and given 48

hours to leave Mexico.

Ultimately, Norman was punished by the

Australian Olympic Committee and made

an outcast by the Australian media.

Further, he was not selected for the 1972

Munich games, and was snubbed at the

2000 Sydney games, to which he was

not invited to the opening or closing

ceremonies. In 2006, after Norman died

of a heart attack, Smith and Carlos

traveled to Melbourne to serve as pall

bearers at Norman’s funeral.

In 2012, the Australian parliament issued

Norman an official posthumous

apology. “A protest like this, on a global

stage, had never been done before. At

the time, it was electrifying,” said

Australian Member of Parliament Andrew

Leigh issuing an apology to Norman’s

family in a speech before the legislature.

“In that moment Norman advanced

international awareness for racial

equality. He was proud to stand with

Smith and Carlos and the three remained

lifelong friends.”

Long story short, we have to fight the

battles against injustice wherever we find

ourselves, because we have no other

choice and no one else will.