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Dr. John Carlos Raises His Fist With Occupy Wall Street
Last night I had the privilege of introducing 1968 Olympian Dr. John Carlos to the General Assembly at Occupy Wall Street. This morning I had the duty of introducing John Carlos to Sen. Chuck Schumer in the MSNBC green room. Both were unforgettable experiences. When Dr. Carlos and I arrived an Occupy Wall Street, it comprised all the ordered chaos you could imagine. People of all backgrounds and ages were packed shoulder to shoulder in Zucotti Park. Police stood at attention, glowering from the outside. Homemade igns ranging from, ""Undocumented immigrants are part of the 99% to "We Remember Troy Davis” to “Tax the Rich!” encircled the square. John Carlos looked at me with that twinkle in his eye and said, "It's great to be home."
With the help of the Occupy Wall Street regulars who invited us to speak, we worked our way to the front of the General Assembly. Here we encountered our first problem: the agenda had been reordered so announcements would come at the end. We would have to wait "two maybe three hours" to give five minutes of greetings. I asked the head of the facilitation team if John Carlos could skip the three hours and say just a few words. She looked at my quizzically and said, "Who's John Carlos?" I answered, "One of the two men who raised their black-gloved fist at the 1968 Olympics.” I then did a poor-man's impression of the medal stand moment, bowed my head and raised my fist. Her eyebrows raised an inch and then her face lit up. She got it. This was someone born years, possibly decades after 1968, and now she was on a mission to make it happen. The other people on the facilitation team were also excited and they exercised a process point called an "emergency announcement" and John Carlos was able to get on the "People's Mic" and to say a few words. "I am here for you," he said in his raspy voice. Then “I am here for you” was repeated loudly in successive waves on the "People's Mic", a beautiful moment unto itself, but Dr. Carlos wasn’t done. "Why? Because I am you. We're here 43 years later because there's a fight still to be won. This day is not for us but for our children to come."
The response was electric as people in the crowd pumped their fists and then mobbed us when we got off "stage." The next day, the New York Daily News, Salon, and Democracy Now all had reports about the curious presence of the 1968 Olympian in Zucotti Park. But talking to the people in the square, the connection is an obvious one and John Carlos made it well: he is them. His boldness, his daring, and his sacrifice in 1968 echo strongly in our struggles today. When we do book events for the John Carlos Story, the crowd is overwhelmingly young. As Carlos said this morning on MSNBC, "I definitely see the connection between then and now. Back then we were fighting the racial struggle. Now it's broader than that because this economy is affecting all of us. The fat cats have had their day. It's past time for the mice to get together."
As Dr. Carlos and I were leaving the MSNBC studio, we bumped into someone also very familiar with Wall Street, albeit the non-occupied sections, New York Senator Chuck Schumer. I made the introduction, on my best green room behavior, and bit my tongue. Chuck Schumer then looked at John's body up and down and said, You're in great shape! Are you still running?" John paused beautifully and said, "Running for justice." Schumer, perhaps for the first time, was tongue-tied. I would just add that John isn’t “just running for justice,” he's running toward justice; and he has a hell of a lot of company.
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20 Comments so far
Show AllJohn Carlos welcome, Dave Zirin go back to your Roman Circus Sports extravaganza. Serve the rich by diverting peoples attention from important issues of the day. Zirin you don't belong here, go away.
Agreed.
The entertainment cartel can spot an opportunity when it sees one. They just LUUUV free exposure.
As for Schumer, he never stops running – his mouth.
And yes, welcome John Carlos. Truly a man of conviction. I remember the time well.
So why are you wasting time posting on an article like this that diverts peoples' attention?
Go and focus on those important issues of the day.
stone,relax man,i'm sure like me ,we all carry around a lot of anger with so much evil insanity to deal with,yet let us all step back a bit from our anger&revel in the positive vibes being put out by the beautiful protesters on wallstreet&world wide by millions more!!! ho ka hey/it is a good time to live!
Misplaced positivism is no virtue.
Actually Dave Zirin frequently points out sports as a leading venue for social change, From Jackie Robinson to Muhammad Ali, the sporting world is often ahead of the rest of society when it comes to social movements. So get over it.
Stone -
Should Sean Penn stay away from post-Katrina New Orleans, or off the antiwar picket lines, because many of Penn's motion pictures do temporarily divert the customers' attention away from pressing political disputes of the day? Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland, and other celebs were never deemed "unwelcome" at peace movement events during the 60's and early 70's even though the Barbarella film was glitzy soft porn escapism, or because M*A*S*H* sent an anti-military message in a politically incorrect manner via use of raunch and black comedy rather than engaging in serious polemics.
Celebrity entertainers and celebrity sports figures like Dr. Carlos, Muhammed Ali, Billy Jean King, Kareem Jabbar, and others are entitled to personally hold and publicly voice controversial political positions if they choose to do so, the same as all other citizens. Similarly, print journalists like Dave Zirin or Mitch Albom - particularly because their subject matter specialty is the circus section rather than the bread section of your local newspaper - should be encouraged to inject politics into their reporting formats rather than be disparaged for doing so. Athletes who express progressive political views are newsworthy - the same as athletes or sports journalists who utter racist or sexist thoughts outloud are newsworthy.
Frank Rich, Maureen Dowd, and Molly Ivins once drew or still draw paychecks from wealthy media corporations. Rachel Meddow appears to be doing well, as do Jon Stewart and Michael Moore. Should their views be unwelcome in the marketplace of commentary on public affiars because they are tainted by affiliation with the rich folks heirarchy invaviably running the show?
I hope Dave Zirin sticks with his unique sports reporting niche. He's a welcome addition as far as I'm concerned.
Bill from Saginaw
Excellent post...as is Zirin's writing.
If you like Zirin, try CLR James. He was a Trinidadian writer, social activist, considered by many the greatest writer on cricket ever, and even the greatest writer on ever, who tied his writing on sport to social issues, to a social context.He very famously wrote: "What do they know of cricket who only cricket know?"
Congratulations, Bill, for your beautiful post. I've admired Zirin for many years. He's one of us. You have to make the revolution where you are. He happens to be in sports. If you don't get sports fans to join the movement, it will slip and fall. Sports fans are hurting, too, and I'd imagine many are seeing through the 24/7 distraction on at least 10 channels. There's work to be done everywhere.
Great post. Rfloh would do well to read Zirin's book "What's My Name, Fool". It night change his mind about the usefulness of Zirin's journalism. It's not all bread and circuses. It's possible to write about sports from a progressive perspective.
WTF? Reread my posts.
It wasn't you talking about diverting peoples' attention? No? Sorry.
New York's Senator Sleaze led the successful effort in the Senate to end Glass-Steagall pushed by President Clinton. Rather than apologize for his starring role in the legislative mess that caused the taxpayer bailout of the of our big banks, the fraudulent foreclosures those banks instigated, and the widespread depression across the country, Senator Sleaze ran for re-election.
I don't care how you feel about Zirin or his writing, this story gave me chills. Thank you John Carlos. And don't forget to add George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio, Susan Sarandon and many others to the list of "diverters" along with Sean Penn.
Any, such as Stone & moonpie, who poo-poo the influence that sports has in society are beyond foolish and self-defeating (cultural fuddy-duddy's as well). Sports, like other facets of the entertainment sector, produces heroes (villains too) that any self-respecting political movement should be happy to latch on to should they desire to risk their relatively privileged position in life by angering the elite whom often are their direct employers.
The bashing of Dave Zirin is unwarranted as well, as he has managed to carve out a unique position in the sports media landscape due to his intelligence and camera ready persona. That Zirin successfully practices his craft in a part of the media that has long been the preserve of absolute of neanderthal-esque conservatives is all the more amazing.
Misshapen dick's abound in the religion of sports.
I have always thought that organized sports was totally barbaric, but I think Zirin makes a valuable contribution.
Dave Zirin makes a great contribution to sports writing in the US, and anyone who thinks that you can be a social or cultural critic in the US and just pretend that sports are not a site of ideological production is kidding themselves. You may not be interested in organized sports, but millions of people are, and someone has to keep a critical eye on sports as a cultural and political phenomena.
John Carlos' courageous act make him a key figure in US sports history and US history in general.
Why would anyone do John Carlos the disservice of introducing him to Chuck Schumer?