Adventures with Dr. Lady Cutie Troublemaker

Did you happen to see The Boston Globe’s photo essay of yesterday’s inauguration of President Obama? I did. It’s amazing. One picture in particular stood out to me.

It was taken by Stan Grossfeld of the Boston Globe. Here’s the caption:

40 years after their silent protest at the 1968 Olympics, Gold Medalist Tommie Smith hugs Bronze Medalist John Carlos, and their wives Delois Smith and Charlene Carlos after Barack Obama is officially sworn in as the President of the United States. Photo taken in the Smith room at the Sheraton Boston in Boston, MA.

Zik, Another fellow Twitterer, noticed that picture, too. It was enough for me to think it was worth a blog post for anyone who missed the point of that picture in the photo essay today.

I wasn’t born in 1968, but my parents were there at the Olympics that year, and I’ve heard so much about this silent protest and the controversy it caused – both from them and from documentaries of the civil rights movement and the Olympics.

I found some history here for those who don’t know the story:

It was the most popular medal ceremony of all time. The photographs of two black American sprinters standing on the medal podium with heads bowed and fists raised at the Mexico City Games in 1968 not only represent one of the most memorable moments in Olympic history but a milestone in America’s civil rights movement.

The two men were Tommie Smith and John Carlos. Teammates at San Jose State University, Smith and Carlos were stirred by the suggestion of a young sociologist friend Harry Edwards, who asked them and all the other black American athletes to join together and boycott the games. The protest, Edwards hoped, would bring attention to the fact that America’s civil rights movement had not gone far enough to eliminate the injustices black Americans were facing. Edwards’ group, the Olympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR), gained support from several world-class athletes and civil rights leaders but the all-out boycott never materialized.

Still impassioned by Edwards’ words, Smith and Carlos secretly planned a non-violent protest in the manner of Martin Luther King, Jr. In the 200-meter race, Smith won the gold medal and Carlos the bronze. As the American flag rose and the Star-Spangled Banner played, the two closed their eyes, bowed their heads, and began their protest.

Smith later told the media that he raised his right, black-glove-covered fist in the air to represent black power in America while Carlos’ left, black-covered fist represented unity in black America. Together they formed an arch of unity and power. The black scarf around Smith’s neck stood for black pride and their black socks (and no shoes) represented black poverty in racist America.

While the protest seems relatively tame by today’s standards, the actions of Smith and Carlos were met with such outrage that they were suspended from their national team and banned from the Olympic Village, the athletes’ home during the games.

A lot of people thought that political statements had no place in the supposedly apolitical Olympic Games. Those that opposed the protest cried out that the actions were militant and disgraced Americans. Supporters, on the other hand, were moved by the duo’s actions and praised them for their bravery. The protest had lingering effects for both men, the most serious of which were death threats against them and their families.

Smith and Carlos, who both now coach high school track teams, were honored in 1998 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of their protest.

An interesting side note to the protest was that the 200m silver medallist in 1968, Peter Norman of Australia (who is white), participated in the protest that evening by wearing a OPHR badge.

More information can be found on Wikipedia.

BBC has a great documentary about the event. Here’s Part One. The rest are linked below the video:

Here are links to Part 1 through Part 6:

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5
• Part 6

I guess Obama’s win was enough for them to end their bickering.

This is a flawed blog post. My head was afire with thoughts, and I had to get them down. Many threads are incomplete, many thoughts not fully articulated, but I feel compelled to put this “out there” in this unedited state.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve heard people express their concern and thoughts about those in this country they feel sponge off the system. The assumption seems to be that these are people who have no internal motivation, that there is something very wrong with them. And that one of the roles of government is to protect “We, the People” from “Them” (as if “they” are not also part of “We, The People”). These people do not want to work. We are superior to Them. (Assume quotes around “We” and “Them” or “They” for the next few sentences.) We work hard. They are lazy and don’t want to work. We are responsible. They aren’t and don’t want to be. We are the ones doing all the work. They are looking for any opportunity to get more without giving anything. The unstated part of this is that “We” usually means White, and “Them” usually means black. This notions more than bothers me. It is at the heart of the division in our country.

We aren’t all born with the same stuff. There’s something called Generational Poverty (a nice summary here with some of the same caveats I have about Ruby Payne’s work; more from NYT) that I have seen with my own eyes, and the effects of this are gargantuan yet invisible, certainly to those of us on the outside, but I think even to those on the inside. I can’t imagine that some motivationless thug you found on a street corner would be able to talk to you about this effect, and certainly the wealthy people driving past as they lock their doors are just as unaware of its existence.

Go into a village. Take all the people you can find. Stack them end to end in ships. Do not allow families to stay together. Take these people from their homeland. Sail them to the other side of the world and enslave them. Do not educate them, nor their children, nor their children’s children. Rape them. Do not give them last names or a right to property. Do not allow them to vote. Take away their religion and “civilize” them with yours. So often, we forget that even the founders of this country were racists. Even Ben Franklin spoke of “scouring the planet of darker hued people”. Even though huge strides have been made, think about how recent Brown vs. Board of Education was – separate is NOT equal. Racism hasn’t left us, but it’s gone underground. It’s gotten subtler. I won’t bother going into evidence of racism in modern culture, but if you think it’s gone, your head is in the sand. And I’d say the most troubling brand of it is the uber-subtle feeling that many sheltered white people have that black people (and also poor people in a more general way) want to take “our” money.

I’ve always been of the mind that you should teach a man to fish, rather than give a man a fish. But what I feel like a lot of sheltered middle class are saying is, “Why the fuck don’t you know how to fish like me?” That answer to that is so complex, more than a blog post worth. But I do ask you to consider whether the reason someone is not able to fish for themselves is that they WANT to be helpless -OR- maybe they have never had anyone teach them. Maybe when they have tried to fish before, they didn’t catch anything. Maybe they saw their mothers and father and grandmothers and grandfathers try to fish, and after years of working hard, they didn’t get any bites. Maybe they don’t fish because they have experienced learned helplessness. Maybe playing by the rules has gotten them nowhere. Maybe they tried to play by the rules, but they rules kept changing.

You don’t know. You have not walked a mile in their shoes.

I want to talk about Ogbu’s work on competence. I want to go back and explain all of that history in more detail with and add citations. I want to show you The Color of Fear and talk with you about it. I want to ask you to consider that maybe some assumptions you’ve made aren’t right. I want you to stop for a minute and consider that maybe these people you’ve imagined to be taking your money are doing the very best they can with what they have been given. I want to tell you about all the people I’ve met living in poverty who work themselves silly and never got anywhere. I want to show you how easy you’ve had it. But this is just a blog post, and I have a lot more to do tonight.

I want you to know that “Yes, We Can” is not just a silly slogan. It represents hope and possibility and so much more. Is teaching people to fish really so bad? Can you unclench your fist for just a second? Not to “share the wealth”, but to listen, to consider that another person may be doing their best, to remain open to new possibilities, to consider that maybe a better world for those struggling the most means a better world for all of us.

NC still hasn’t been called, and it’s 8:30am the next morning, but I have hope. Obama and his campaign won an incredibly well-oiled ground game here in my state. It was something to see, because it felt like Barack, Michelle, and Joe were here every other day. There were Obama-related events here constantly, and many of my friends were heavy volunteers throughout the campaign. NC is up 11,000 right now. It’s not enough to call, but even though Obama has won the nation, it’s important to a LOT of us that he wins NC. We worked hard for it. We want it.

Click for a Large view

That map is what I fell asleep to, and it’s the same map I woke up to. From the NC Board of elections:

Come on, NC. I wonder if there will be a recount.

Take a look at some wonderful images my friend Massimo captured in downtown Raleigh. He must be thrilled, as he can’t vote in this country.

One more thing: I’m thrilled Libby Dole lost to Kay Hagen after that tacky “Godless” ad. That was tacky, tacky, tacky. People who hit below the belt shouldn’t win.

And last, a stupid video Jake and I made last night at our election watching party before the election was called:

Props to Jake for the title. He was singing Paint it Black this morning, but with the word blue. Clevah!

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Update:

Halle-freakin-lujah!

Man has good taste!

Inclusion of “What’s Going On” by Marvin Gaye is a particular highlight for me.

John McCain has a playlist, too, today, I’m feeling Barack. YES WE CAN!