How a Silent Stand at the Olympics Upended Three Lives, Improved Our World, and Built a Lifelong Bond

Tommie Smith had just completed the 200-meters finals at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, broken a world record, and won the gold medal. It was time for him to walk to the medal stand, bask in the adulation of the masses, and accept his medal. Smith was living his dream.

Except, this was just his outer dream. He also had an inner dream. As an African American, Smith had seen much racial injustice. His inner dream was to get people to pay attention to this injustice and take action. He had not shared this dream in a major public manner so far, realizing that it would be controversial. Not everyone was ready to empathize with his cause. 

So, even before the Olympics, he had devised a plan. Once he showed the world that he’d mastered its game of athletics by winning the gold medal – for which he was the favorite – he would bring his inner dream also into outer expression. He would use his moment in the spotlight to become whole, by bringing his two worlds together, the inner and the outer. The world might then impose consequences on him for shocking it too suddenly from its racism-laced-somnolence. He must have been okay with that, because at the core of his being, he was interested in doing what was right, not what was popular. 

And he was not alone. There was John Carlos as well. 

Carlos, like Smith, was an African-American runner. He too was a medal-favorite at the Olympics in the 200-meter race. He too had been holding on to an inner dream like Smith’s. Carlos expected to win the silver, and he was right there behind Smith, but, alas! In the final 50 meters, he got overtaken by a surprise burst of energy from a competitor, leaving Carlos with the bronze medal. Well, at least Carlos was going to join Smith on the medal stand. Now it was time to put the plan into action...

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