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Tommie Smith (center) and John Carlos (right) raise their arms in protest at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City during the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner."

40 years later ...

By: Andrea Frainier

Posted: 10/9/08

When Tommie Smith and John Carlos bowed their heads and raised their black-gloved fists toward the sky at the Mexico City Olympics, their Black Power salute was embraced by some but resented by most at the time.

Years later, the two SJSU athletes are celebrated as heroes for their courageous stance against racial inequality in America.

"I think it's amazing that these two historic figures were at this school," said Kate Fisher, a junior occupational therapy major. "I think we can learn a lot about how they stood up for what was right."

Niya Levi, a senior marketing major, said he was impressed with the Tommie Smith and John Carlos Statue when he first came to SJSU.

"The Olympics didn't really support them. Neither did America. But then to have San Jose State honor them is really cool," he said.

Tommie Smith said the Statue represents where the fight for equality of SJSU athletes started.

"I come to the statue sometimes and no one knows who I am," Smith said. "So I stand there and just look at it. … I cannot look at my face because that face represents what I felt at that time and that was a cry for freedom."

When SJSU President Whitmore looks at the Smith-Carlos statue, he said he thinks about the history of the university and its concern for social justice.

"That and the Martin Luther King Library and now the Cesar Chavez arch - those are three statements that say a lot about the history of this institution and the culture and attitude of faculty and students here," he said.

Even though hundreds of students walk by the Smith-Carlos Statue every day, many of them do not know the significance of Smith and Carlos' Olympic stance.

"San Jose State has to do more to try and make students understand what this is all about," John Carlos said.

When Kimberly Uweh, a sophomore chemistry major, walks by the statue, she said she doesn't always think about its meaning.

"But every now and then I take that glance and think, 'Oh yeah, that came from my school, someone who took a stance.' … You don't really find people in our generation that stand up for anything. Most things are done for us."

Colin Taylor, a junior civil engineering major, said he didn't know much about the history behind the statue, but didn't think today's generation of students would take a bold stance like Smith and Carlos did.

"For the most part, most of us are afraid to step out and be different," he said. "American culture is just to fit and be like everyone else," he said.

SJSU's Instructional Resource Center's copy of the HBO documentary "Fists of Freedom: The Story of the '68 Summer Games," which explores the events surrounding the '68 Olympics, has only been checked out a total of four times.

"I don't think it's by accident that people don't know what went on," said sociology professor Preston Rudy. "That's by design. That has to do with the way in which being a student in 2008 is very different from being a student in '68. The fees are higher, students have to work in ways that they didn't have to work in '68, and therefore your life is taken up by stuff."

Urla Hill, curator of "Speed City" at San Jose City Hall, is a former SJSU student who has dedicated her life to chronicling the university's rich athletics history.

"I don't trust San Jose State to do what they should do with that statue," Hill said. "Freshman year, everybody needs to know what that statue is."

Harry Edwards, a former professor of sociology at SJSU and student-athlete, co-founded the Olympic Project for Human Rights with Ken Noel in 1967 to protest the treatment of black athletes.

When asked what he wanted SJSU students to think when they walk by the statue, Edwards replied that he wouldn't want those students to think anything.

"I would want them to ask one question, 'What was that about?' and then hit the libraries and start doing research," he said. "If the students ask that question, I trust them to come to the right answers."

It was an SJSU student that campaigned to honor Smith and Carlos. In 2003, SJSU alumnus Erik Grotz was a senior political science major who pushed for the university to commemorate the medal-winning athletes.

"The statues were there because they had a young man who was the student body president a few years back," John Carlos said. "He was in a class … and the professor just happened to mention to him that John Carlos and Tommie Smith went to school here. …This individual was elated we went to school here, but even more so he was disappointed for the fact there was no recognition that we attended San Jose State. He said it was almost like they were ashamed of us. And the statue is there as a result of his backing."

Edwards said he thinks the Smith-Carlos Statues need to be put in context. "Anytime you isolate something out and say 'Well what does this mean?' and don't put it into context, it's going to be meaningless and very soon it's going to be forgotten. I put that on the university," he said.

Smith also said he believes that the university needs to reinforce the meaning of the statue.

"There's nothing on that statue that exemplifies why it was there or the need to continue the strife of excellence," Smith said. "A plaque is needed to be oriented on that statue or around that statue to identify who these guys are, what they did and why the statue is there because it is a monumental statue that's just sitting there."

Rudy said he thinks the spirit of Smith and Carlos has been lost on SJSU students.

"I think one of the things students at San Jose State could do as a way of commemorating that - they could revive that as an image of what it is to be in college, what it is to be an athlete, what it is to be a politically engaged athlete. These were not guys that were political in the sense that they weren't running for student government, they weren't involved in huge demonstrations. They were going about their daily life and doing that in a way that was politically aware."