It’s been eleven years since I last worked in a newsroom, yet I am constantly reminded that I have carried that experience with me into whatever tickles my fancy at the moment. Tonight, I’d like to put those skills to good use by examining something that has been shared on social media amid the current civil rights debate. It lists several things that Americans have and have not been taught about black history.
“You learned about Tommie Smith’s fist in the air at the 1968 (Summer) Olympics,” the post proclaims. “But not that he was sent home the next day and stripped of his medals.”
Before I had seen the post, my mother indicated that she thought the Olympian was forced to give back his medal for protesting on the podium. Since we didn’t know for certain, I did a little digging on the subject and here’s what I found.
The History Channel states that the iconic protest of Smith and his American teammate, John Carlos, after the 200-meter dash in Mexico City drew the ire of International Olympic Committee president Avery Brundage and resulted in the loss of their medals. NPR has also repeated the claim that the IOC took the medals away.
However, Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman published a 2016 column which included an interview with Carlos discussing the committee’s attempt at revoking the medals. “You come get my medal, you better bring a militia,” Carlos recalled telling Olympic officials.
Also, for what it’s worth, the official IOC website lists Smith as the gold medalist in the 200-meter and Carlos the bronze. Meanwhile, athletes such as Ben Johnson and Marion Jones who were stripped of their medals have been noted as such. It is thus my determination that neither Tommie Smith nor John Carlos had their medals stripped over the Black Power salute. Let this be a lesson: make sure that any information you share on your social media pages is verifiable.