The Passing of Peter Norman- The Silver Medalist With The White Skin

[Jcrowley]

http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2006/10/09/carlos_narrowweb__300x365,0.jpg

Brother of the Fist

The Passing of Peter Norman

By DAVE ZIRIN

Almost four decades later, the image can still make hairs rise on unsuspecting necks. It's 1968, and 200 meter gold medalist Tommie Smith stands next to bronze winner John Carlos, their raised black gloved fists smashing the sky on the medal stand in Mexico City. They were Trojan Horses of Rage -- bringing the Black revolution into that citadel of propriety and hypocrisy: the Olympic games.

When people see that image, their eyes are drawn like magnets toward Smith and Carlos, standing in black socks, their heads bowed in controlled concentration. Less noticed is the silver medalist. He is hardly mentioned in official retrospectives, and people assume him to be a Forrest Gump-type figure, just another of those unwitting witnesses to history who always end up in the back of famous frames. Only the perceptive notice that this seemingly anonymous individual is wearing a rather large button emblazoned with the letters O-P-H-R, standing for the Olympic Project for Human Rights.

Only those who see the film footage notice that he never throws a furtive glance back at fellow medal winners as they raise their fists. He never registers surprise or alarm. At a moment that epitomized the electric shock of rebellion, his gaze is cool, implacable, his back ramrod straight, a fellow soldier proud to stand with his brothers. Only those who go beyond official history will learn about the true motivations of all three of these men. They wanted the apartheid countries of South African and Rhodesia to be disallowed from the Olympics. They wanted more coaches of African descent. They wanted the world to know that their success did not mean racism was now a relic of history. The silver medalist with the white skin stood with Smith and Carlos on every question and it was agreed before the race, that if the three, as expected, were the ones on the dais, they would stand together: three young anti-racists standing together in struggle.

<snip>

When the 2000 Olympics came to Sydney, Norman was outrageously outcast from the festivities, still the invisible man. In a conversation at that time with sportswriter Mike Wise, Norman was absent of bitterness and wore his ostracism as proudly as that solidarity button from 1968. "I did the only thing I believed was right," he said to Wise. "I asked what they wanted me to do to help. I couldn't see why a black man wasn't allowed to drink out of the same water fountain or sit in the same bus or go to the same schools as a white guy. That was just social injustice that I couldn't do anything about from where I was, but I certainly abhorred it."

http://www.counterpunch.org/zirin10102006.html

[aaronbees]

1. Outstanding article....

Never knew this about him and glad to find out. Sounds like he was a very decent man. :)

[anakie]

2. both Smith and Carlos were pallbearers at his funeral

I did not know that Peter Norman was an Aussie. Sad, that in a sport mad country like Australia we didn't know anything about him. It is especially galling that he was ignored at the Sydney olympics when Australia was gushing over virtually any medallist at previous olympics.

Here is a link to a story the day after his funeral with a picture of Smith and Carlos as pallbearers.


http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20553987-5006785,00.html


and as the article says Norman is still the fastest Australian ever over 200m.

[Jcrowley]

3. He ain't heavy

Thanks for that.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,1658,5270371,00.jpg
He ain't heavy: Tommie Smith, front left, and John Carlos, front right, help to bear Peter Norman's coffin yesterday. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

From article:
Steve Simmons, from the US Olympic Committee, told how athletes Mike Powell, Michael Johnson and Edwin Moses were in awe of Norman when he joined their table at a function during the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

Simmons read a letter from Johnson, who described Norman's actions in 1968 as "the most courageous and selfless moment in sport". The US Track and Field Federation proclaimed yesterday Peter Norman Day.

And this:
He had seen Norman 10 months ago at the unveiling of a sculpture of the Mexico moment at San Jose University in the US. Norman did not want himself represented in the sculpture. His space was left empty. Anyone could have filled it, he said, he just happened to be there at the right moment.