Black Power and Sports Today
When John Carlos raised his fist in a salute at the 1968 Olympic Games, he encouraged untold numbers of people to continue fighting for racial and economic justice. Today, he says, the control corporations exert over professional athletes makes such an act impossible to imagine.
When John Carlos raised his fist in a salute at the 1968 Olympic Games, he encouraged untold numbers of people to continue fighting for racial and economic justice. Today, he says, the control corporations exert over professional athletes makes such an act impossible to imagine. –ARK
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But, unlike during the 1960s, today Carlos sees little hope of resistance emerging through sport, which is awash with too much money and drugs. “There wasn’t a whole bunch of money out there back then,” he says, “so just a few people were ever going to be shakers and bakers. But today, if an athlete doesn’t have a view of their history before them, then they have a view of just that big cheque in front of them. It’s not the responsibility of the oppressor to educate us. We have to educate ourselves and our own. That’s the difference between Muhammad Ali and Michael Jordan. Muhammad Ali will never die. He used his skill to say something about the social ills of society. Of course, he was an excellent boxer, but he got up and spoke on the issues. And because he spoke on the issues, he will never die. There will be someone else at some time who can do what Jordan could do. And then his name will just be pushed down in the mud. But they’ll still be talking about Ali.”
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