The John Carlos Story

The John Carlos Story: The Sports Moment That Changed History (2011) is an autobiography by track and field star John Carlos and sportswriter Dave Zirin. Carlos is famous for his Black Power salute on the podium at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. Critically acclaimed, the book was nominated for an NAACP Image Award in the category Outstanding Literary Work – Biography/Autobiography.

John Carlos was born on June 5, 1945, in Harlem, New York to parents of Cuban descent. As a youngster, Carlos was a victim of discrimination like so many black Americans during the mid-twentieth century. Ironically, this discrimination and racism lead him to become a track and field star. For example, he initially wanted to be an Olympic swimmer but wasn't allowed to practice at the public pool where black youths were prohibited. He discovered his skill as a runner on days when he would steal twenty-five-pound boxes of food to deliver to his poor neighbors, easily outrunning the police. His athleticism and his social conscience were intertwined in other ways as well. For example, whenever Malcolm X spoke around his neighborhood, Carlos would attend the speeches and then run as fast as he could to catch up with Malcolm so he could ask the civil rights activist questions.

Carlos describes the discrimination he received while attending East Texas State University on a track and field scholarship. For example, he was forced to use "colored" bathrooms at the university. Despite this adversity, Carlos excelled as an athlete, leading the school to the Lone Star State Conference Championships as a member of the 4 x 400-meter relay team and a champion runner in the 100- and 200-meter dash events. After one year, Carlos transferred to the more progressive San Jose State University. There, he trained under Lloyd "Bud" Winter who would go on to be inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame.



A second-year student at San Jose State, Carlos participated in the 1968 Summer Olympic Trials in Lake Tahoe, California. That site was chosen because its high elevation (7,377 feet above sea level) resembled that of Mexico City, where that year's Olympics would take place. At the trials, Carlos beat current world record leader Tommie Smith, completing the 200-meter dash in 19.92 seconds. Smith would later be a key participant in the Black Power demonstration Carlos led at that year's Olympics.

Even before the Black Power demonstration, Carlos was considered unique for his political motivation. In 1968, he helped found the Olympic Project for Human Rights, which proposed a boycott of the Mexico City Olympics if the International Olympic Committee did not meet four conditions: removing South Africa and Rhodesia from the games because of their  policies on Apartheid; hiring a significant number of African-American coaches and assistants; restoring Muhammad Ali's World Championship Title; and the removal of Avery Brundage as the president of the International Olympic Committee. In the end, the Committee only met the first condition, withdrawing its invites to South Africa and Rhodesia.

In light of the Committee failing to meet most of the OPHC's conditions, the choice to participate in the Olympics was a difficult one for Carlos and his friend and competitor, Tommie Smith. Eventually, Carlos and Smith agreed they could make a greater impact by participating in the games and staging a demonstration on the podium if either athlete, or both of them, were to win. The details of the demonstration came together quickly, just 48 hours before the podium ceremony for the winners during the quarter semi-finals of the 200-meter dash race.



Smith won the gold medal in that event while Carlos won the bronze. The silver medal went to the Australian athlete, Peter Norman. Norman was a white man while Smith and Carlos were black. As Carlos and Smith approached the podium, they wore no shoes and black socks, which at the time was a well-known symbol for the widespread poverty facing black Americans. They also wore black gloves, which were accentuated when the pair lifted their fists in a Black Power solidarity salute. While Norman did not raise his fist, the white athlete agreed to participate in the protest by wearing a badge featuring the logo of Carlos's Olympic Project for Human Rights advocacy group.

The IOC retaliated quickly and severely against Carlos and Smith; Committee President Avery Brundage condemned the act as inappropriately political for an event that, in his mind, was supposed to be apolitical. While Carlos and Smith were allowed to keep their medals, they were kicked off the US Team and forced to leave the Olympic Village immediately. The public's response, meanwhile, was fiercely divided. While some observers praised the move as brave and a salient example of increasing public awareness of racism and poverty, others were so outraged, they sent the athletes death threats.

Although Carlos doesn't say it outright in the book, it's clear that his actions were a seminal moment in the history of black athletes speaking up about politics. He describes similarly motivated black athletes who spoke out in his wake, including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar of the NBA and boxer George Foreman. At a time when the country is still hotly debating athletes such as Colin Kaepernick using their position on the national stage to speak out and raise public awareness, The John Carlos Story is a deeply important and enlightening read.