Tuesday, February 28, 2006

And she's right, of course

Today is the last day of February, and therefore also the last day of Black History Month. I asked my class today what that means to them. "It means there will be another year until I hear about Martin Luther King Jr. again", one of the girls said.

I was at the unveiling of the statue honoring John Carlos and Tommie Smith at the San Jose State University campus a few months ago. Carlos and Smith were the two African American athletes who raised their fists in that famous gesture during a ceremony at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.
I was completely excited to see them in real life. I can't even begin to describe it. But I took some photos... So here they are, sitting on stage, listening to speeches. Once again accompanied by the silvermedalist, Peter Norman of Australia.
Peter Norman speaks of himself as "the white guy in the photo". What not everybody knows is that he took an active part in the protest, and has been friends with Carlos and Smith ever since. But the statue on the San Jose State campus leaves the silvermedalist's spot empty; Norman is not included. Why? To give us all the opportunity to climb up and stand there for a moment, and try out what it would feel like.

Yes. Sometimes the right thing to do is to stand still, and shut up.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am not familiar with this story. What were they protesting?

Lotta K said...

They were part of the civil rights movement.
I googled. This sums it up:
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/mm-mexicocity.html

Anonymous said...

"Sometimes the right thing to do is stand still and shut up." It's a great line for that picture. Did you come up with that?

Lotta K said...

Yes, I did. Thanks!