Fists of Freedom.

• Author: Zirin, Dave
• Position: Edge of Sports - Viewpoint essay

It lasted for only as long as it took to play the national anthem, and yet it has lasted for four decades. The image of Tommie Smith and John Carlos, their black-gloved fists raised to the heavens at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, has somehow grown in power over the last forty years. Unlike other iconography from the 1960s--Woodstock, Abbie Hoffman, Tricky Dick--the moment isn't musty. It retains its ability to pack a punch. Go up to Harlem and street merchants still sell T-shirts of the medal stand moment. Turn on HBO and see the continual running of the 1999 documentary Fists of Freedom . Notice how many times the salute was mentioned during the coverage of the 2008 Games.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

A question worth asking is why: Why has a moment that emblemizes a very specific moment in time--the fires of 1968--found a place in contemporary consciousness? Why has it retained its cultural capital?

I spoke recently on a panel with John Carlos, and afterward there was a line that stretched long and deep of young people born years (even decades) after 1968, asking Carlos to sign posters, T-shirts, even pins all emblazoned with that moment.

There are several reasons I believe this moment has retained its power. The most obvious is that people love a good redemption song. Smith and Carlos were standing up against racism in both sport and society. They wanted South Africa and Rhodesia banned from the games for their apartheid politics. They wanted more black coaches. They wanted International Olympic Committee President Avery Brundage held accountable for his open and virulent racism. They wanted Muhammad Ali--"the warrior saint in the revolt of the black athlete," as the movie Ali described him--to have his title restored. And they were reviled for taking their stand and using the Olympic podium to do it. But these "radical" demands have since been proven prescient, and Smith and Carlos have made the journey over four decades from receiving countless death threats and being athletic pariahs to having statues unveiled in their honor.

But those black gloves have also retained their power because Smith and...