Carlos Still Feeling The Fire

Harlem native John Carlos and Tommie Smith decided to take a public stand in the most public of places on this day in 1968. Representing the United States track and field team, they took their spots on the Olympic podium — Smith had won gold in the 200, Carlos bronze — and as the national anthem began to play and the U.S. flags began to rise, they shook up the sporting community.

Bowing their heads, Smith raised his right arm and Carlos his left, each clenched fist wrapped in a black glove. The silent protest intended to raise awareness against racism and economic depression. Carlos remembered, "Once we turned to leave, I really started thinking hard about the fact that I was a free man. They could never put shackles on me again."

But for many, perhaps expectedly, the message wasn't received as intended.

Former United States Olympic Committee communications director Bob Paul said that the International Olympic Committee pressured the USOC to suspend the two and send them out of Mexico City. If they didn't, said Paul, the IOC was prepared to bar the rest of the U.S. track & field team from participating.

Smith and Carlos were vilified. Upon their return, life became a struggle for each. Both eventually gravitated toward education back in California, Smith as a faculty member at Santa Monica College, Carlos as a guidance counselor at Palm Springs High.

Both have recently written books — Smith's Silent Gesture came out in 2007 and Carlos is currently on a promotional tour in support of The John Carlos Story, written with Dave Zirin.

Carlos says that he "still feels the fire" that burned four decades ago. Neil Amdur of the New York Times reported this from Carlos' autobiography:

"If I shut my eyes, I can still feel the fire from those days. And if I open my eyes, I still see the fires all around me. I didn't like the way the world was, and I believe that there need to be some changes about the way the world is."

So it is no surprise that when he book tour recently rolled into his hometown for a signing at NYU, Carlos found his way to Zuccotti Park for the Occupy Wall Street protests.

"Society is broke and these people are here to say 'We need to fix it,'" Carlos told Michael O'Keeffe of the New York Daily News.