Bad journalism or scary as hell: Article says Tommie Smith "fully expected" to be shot when he did his 1968 Olympic protest

umm, nope wrote:

LR = tabloid wrote:

Please tell us more.

LOL. This is exactly right.

I don't think ROJO realizes how much he's telling on himself when he reads a story about Smith expecting to be shot for taking a stand for Black power, and his takeaway is "it can't have been that bad to be a Black activist; the journalist must be making this up." That mentality pervades every element of news that involves social change on this site.

That's a stretch.. Why didn't you just break out the race card or have you worn it out?

cankeespit wrote:

umm, nope wrote:

LOL. This is exactly right.

I don't think ROJO realizes how much he's telling on himself when he reads a story about Smith expecting to be shot for taking a stand for Black power, and his takeaway is "it can't have been that bad to be a Black activist; the journalist must be making this up." That mentality pervades every element of news that involves social change on this site.

That's a stretch.. Why didn't you just break out the race card or have you worn it out?

Rojo is a terrible journalist

People are misunderstanding what I'm saying.

TrackJusticeWarrior wrote:

Why are y'all surprised? .

I'm surprised because it was in Mexico City. Yes, if he did this in the US, I could totally understand why he'd fear he'd be shot. I totally get him fearing death once he returned home.

Just like Feyisa Lelisa. He didn't fear death in Rio, he feared what would happen to him when he returned home.

What's clear is I need to watch "The Stand" documentary. Fearing the possibility of being shot and fully expecting to be shot are also quite different. I'm fearful of what happens if I get Covid but I don't fully expect to die if I get it.

Rojo calling out bad journalism. Is this irony, stupidity, arrogance or ignorance?

Politics doesn't belong in sports...

Take your grandstanding elsewhere...

Great post. Very well said.

Disko Eric wrote:

Rojo calling out bad journalism. Is this irony, stupidity, arrogance or ignorance?

The height of irony and he’s wrong. If he’s the least bit literate he would understand that just because something is not in “quotations” doesn’t mean it’s not what the subject, in this case Tommie Smith, has said.

Rojo is not smart enough to understand that

Emily Swatches wrote:

Disko Eric wrote:

Rojo calling out bad journalism. Is this irony, stupidity, arrogance or ignorance?

The height of irony and he’s wrong. If he’s the least bit literate he would understand that just because something is not in “quotations” doesn’t mean it’s not what the subject, in this case Tommie Smith, has said.

Rojo is not smart enough to understand that

Very true on both counts.

But him writing, "People are misunderstanding what I'm saying." is comically inept gas-lighting regarding his intellectual and journalistic deficiencies. People understood exactly what he wrote, he just didn't use the written form properly to convey what he was pondering, narf.

Rojo,

Your post questions weather Smith was really in danger. You claim the journalist was sloppy for suggesting that.

Many have pointed out the context of the time, what happened to others who spoke out for civil rights, and what happened to him when he came home and death threats were part of that. If these things were unclear to you, you probably should have done some homework before a post that diminishes the danger he faced.

Some us us reading this question your reasoning for starting such a thread.

PlantingSeeds wrote:

Rojo,

Your post questions weather Smith was really in danger. You claim the journalist was sloppy for suggesting that.

Many have pointed out the context of the time, what happened to others who spoke out for civil rights, and what happened to him when he came home and death threats were part of that. If these things were unclear to you, you probably should have done some homework before a post that diminishes the danger he faced.

Some us us reading this question your reasoning for starting such a thread.

He has no such reasoning. He should be sued for slander

Emily Swatches wrote:

PlantingSeeds wrote:

Rojo,

Your post questions weather Smith was really in danger. You claim the journalist was sloppy for suggesting that.

Many have pointed out the context of the time, what happened to others who spoke out for civil rights, and what happened to him when he came home and death threats were part of that. If these things were unclear to you, you probably should have done some homework before a post that diminishes the danger he faced.

Some us us reading this question your reasoning for starting such a thread.

He has no such reasoning. He should be sued for slander

Unfortunately, his ignorance probably won't meet the criteria for libel in the united states. But were he to peruse the boards, hopefully he would at least take the opportunity to consider upgrading his knowledge of the number of people who lost their lives around that time for having the audacity to speak out against injustice and racism. Perhaps then he might understand why the term dog whistle and the too frequent appearances of race baiting on this website need to be more seriously addressed.

Absurd comparison wrote:

Federal Blvd wrote:

I would not be surprised at all if Tommie Smith thought he might get shot. Besides the MLK, RFK and JFK, Malcolm X had also been assassinated while addressing an audience.

It was a very violent time and there was a lot of anger. The race riots in places like Detroit and Watts made the GF protests seem like children's games.

That is a ridiculous comparison seeing as how blacks were the ones committing the violence in the race riots. They weren’t mere bystanders who were shot by random people!

And I don’t believe for one second that Tommie Smith ever thought he would be shot at the Olympics. That sounds like some left-wing revisionist “history.”

You are missing the point. Yes, Blacks were the ones who rioted but a lot of White Americans were angry about the riots and there was a lot of racial tension. A White man shot MLK so was it really far-fetched to think another Black man protesting during the national anthem might experience so fear standing up there in such a vulnerable position.

Here is a quote from a SI piece done 3 years ago on the anniversary:

"At the first notes of the anthem, both men turned 90 degrees to the right and struck their poses. Carlos has said that his arm was bent to shield his face from sniper fire, Smith that his posture was ramrod straight as a remnant of his ROTC training. Smith told me, “I was afraid the whole time. I prayed. I said the Lord’s Prayer all the way through. Then I listened to the national anthem, because that’s a powerful thing, hearing that anthem knowing how many people died so that belief could remain a part of America.”

At the end of the day the only one who knows if he was afraid of getting shot was Tommie Smith, and memories tend to become distorted with the passage of time.

And here is another account:

"a stunned silence fell over the stadium. “There’s something awful about hearing 50,000 people go silent, like being in the eye of a hurricane,” Carlos later wrote in his memoir.

According to The Washington Post, it wasn't long before the momentary stillness yielded to a swell of jeers and boos, with some spectators even shouting the words to the national anthem in a sort of counter-protest. Smith and Carlos were ushered out of the arena and swiftly evicted from the Olympic Village. "

So clearly, many spectators responded with anger and emotion to the protest.

One more reference from this very detailed account on page 124. This makes it clear the Carlos and Smith actually discussed the possibility beforehand that someone in the stadium might attempt violence during the ceremony.

"As the group made the walk to the medal platform, amidst the cheering of the fans, Carlos had one last brief conversation with Smith. He warned him that someone in the stadium might attempt violence during their demonstration. “The people will be shocked to silence and we should be able to hear the clicking of a gun,” he said, and warned Smith to be ready to hit the ground if he heard such a click.476 With those thoughts in his mind, Tommie Smith took the top step of the medal platform to receive his gold medal.477 Asked later what he was thinking at the time, Smith explained, “Praying…I was praying underneath the bleachers, I was praying on the walk up the victory stand, and the entire time I was up there.”478

https://fsu.digital.flvc.org/islandora/object/fsu:169147/datastream/PDF/view

ROJO

I assume you are too young to understand the mood in country at that time, it is very much possible he expected to be shot. The Mexican police/para military said protesters would be shot on site and the U.S. carried a contingence of federal cops to the Olympics as well. There where snipers stationed throughout the stadium. Btw, the statement by Smith has been reported on and discussed many times over the years.

Thank You