5 decades after his iconic protest at Olympics, Tommie Smith says he's still getting death threats

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Even as the International Olympic Committee does what it can to discourage protests at its events, the black glove protest of Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Olympics remains one of the most iconic sights in American sports history.

It also apparently remains a cause of death threats for the man at the top of the medal podium.

During a broadcast of “#NBATogether with Ernie Johnson,” Smith revealed that despite all that time and change since he raised his fist, he still receives death threats.

"I still receive death threats," the former assistant professor of physical education at Oberlin College told Johnson.

"Hold it, hold it," Johnson replied. "Dr. Smith, really?"

"Oh yes, that's very easy for me to say because I'm the one that read the letters; I'm the one that answered the phone; I'm the one that was on the streets," Smith said.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/more-sports/five-decades-after-his-iconic-protest-at-olympics-tommie-smith-says-hes-still-getting-death-threats/ar-BB16eCuM?ocid=NL_ENUS_D1_20200702_7_3

[bobbieinok]

1. This action was unbelievably brave--esp considering the extreme tension in 1968 US

[bobbieinok]

2. Anyone considered putting up statue of them?

Probpably be treated like Emmet Till's memorial---have to be repaired/ replaced periodically

[Brother Buzz]

3. Dr. Harry Edwards, the brainchild behind that event is in the news again

Fifty-two years ago, Edwards was the lead organizer behind the Olympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR), which led American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos to raise black-gloved Black Power salutes atop the Olympic medal stand in Mexico City — the most widely recognized protest in sports history.

Today, he's championing Colin Kaepernick for a Nobel Peace Prize:

Colin Kaepernick, Nobel Peace Prize winner? Why a civil rights icon is advocating

The Mercury News / June 24, 2020

That is Dr. Harry Edwards’ impassioned goal for the former 49ers quarterback who, four years ago, famously protested against social injustice and police misconduct, issues that again are at the forefront of American society.

“He should be nominated at least for the Nobel Peace Prize, not just in terms of what he has done, but going all the way back to the beginning when athletes have played such a major role in the social justice movement, the movement for freedom, equality and so forth, not just in this country but around the world,” Edwards said in a phone interview Wednesday with this news organization.

Edwards is America’s preeminent sports sociologist, a long-time 49ers consultant and he has the capacity to nominate Kaepernick based on his standing as a professor emeritus of Cal’s sociology department. Edwards intends to write a letter on Kaepernick’s candidacy to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, and a nomination form can be submitted online between September and next February. This year’s 318 candidates are already set.

Although he consulted with and educated Kaepernick on racial and societal issues throughout his 49ers career from 2011-16, Edwards has not spoken with him in the past few weeks amid Black Lives Matter protests nationally and globally. Kaepernick has not commented publicly beyond rare social-media posts.

MORE: https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/06/24/colin-kaepernick-nobel-peace-prize-winner-why-a-civil-rights-icon-is-advocating/