The Black Power salute photo, one of the most influential protest images of all time, was captured 50 years ago when U.S. sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos stepped onto the world stage during the Summer Olympics in Mexico City. It was Oct. 16, 1968. Smith had just won gold and Carlos had taken bronze in a blazing 200-meter dash. Australian sprinter Peter Norman, who had won silver, stood to their right. When "The Star-Spangled Banner” began to play, Smith lowered his head and raised his right fist. Carlos raised his left. The protest had been something the athletes planned carefully. Everything captured in the photo held a special significance. Smith and Carlos had walked slowly to the stand as if in mourning, their hands clasped behind their backs — each holding a running shoe. They walked across the grass of the stadium in black stocking feet. They had taken off their shoes specifically to protest poverty in the United States. Carlos unzipped his Olympic jacket, in defiance of Olympic etiquette, but in support of “all the working-class people — black and white. Carlos had deliberately covered up the “USA” on his uniform with a black T-shirt to “reflect the shame I felt that my country was traveling at a snail’s pace toward something that should be obvious to all people of good will. Then the anthem started, and we raised our fists into the air.” When Smith thrust his fist in the air, the crowd fell silent. As the national anthem played, the crowd began to boo them. Then some people in the crowd began to scream the national anthem. The punishment for defying Olympic rules was swift. Smith and Carlos were ordered to leave the Olympic stadium. But the image of Smith and Carlos raising fists would become seared in history as an incendiary act of protest by athletes. - there is more to this story and I encourage you to learn and read where this powerful form of peaceful protest came from, and how both athletes are honored over 50 years later. @washingtonpost https://www.instagram.com/p/CBoTOWaJg5oeBZ_hnFbatfEX7u0OP8P37dgGVM0/?igshid=15hwizhij2txp