John Carlos

## Overview

John Carlos was born in 1945 in Harlem, New York. He was a former Track and Field star and competed in the Olympics. He came to be a part of the Olympic committee and helped to organize the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. He was also inducted into the USA Track and Field hall of fame in 2003.

## Early life

John was born in Harlem, and grew up in between two of the most acclaimed nightclubs. He learned how to hustle and make money in front of those two night clubs. He remembers the event called "white flight" that took place in the early fifties. he says, "It appeared that all the white folks had a meeting that night and decided that, 'We’re going to just move out of Harlem,' because they all started moving to the suburbs and left Harlem primarily for black people.". He also talks about the drug scene and a drug called King Kong. King Kong was a bootleg liquor, but it didn't last long as heroin quickly joined the scene and took over. This is what John Carlos had to say about heroin, "And that’s when I noticed that families started to disintegrate. When I say disintegrate, I mean explode, in terms of all of the love and affection and the harmony that they had in the household just dissolved.". He talked about how the drugs caused a lot of "missing in action" fathers. John did not have this issue as his parents were as he called them, "as strong as the Rock of Gibraltar". His mother would take him and his brother to the abortion clinics when she would clean them, and that was when the drug problem was realized for him, but more importantly it gave him his lifelong purpose of helping people.

John Carlos developed a Robin Hood complex and started to make hits on freight trains, but he hid it from his parents. He then took interest in swimming though he never swam in an organized pool. That dream was soon crushed as his father told him that there is nowhere for him to train and get better at swimming due to the color of his skin. Fortunately there was another option, and thanks to the freight cars John found his way into track and field. While at a meet looking to steal a new pair of shoes two detectives confronted John and told him of his talent as a runner. At thirteen or fourteen he went to the pioneer club track team and beat the older runners three out of the four races. He didn't get to run much at his old high school because they didn't have a track and he was also known as a "gangster kid". After transferring schools for a third time, he finally ended up running track and field for Machine and Metal Trades. Around this time is when John realized that he can use the stardom to his advantage. He can use the platform to talk about all of the terrible things he saw while growing up. John Carlos ran in college for East Texas State University (ETSU) where he and the team won the Lone Star Championship and San Jose State University before and during his time qualifying and running in the Olympic Games.

## Olympics

He wanted to be the first black swimmer to represent the United States in the Olympic Games. After qualifying and making the Olympic team, John and a few others decided to boycott the 1968 Olympics unless four criteria were met. Theses criteria were: the withdrawal of South Africa and Rhodesia, restoration of Muhammad Ali's world heavyweight boxing title, Avery Brundage stepping down as president of the IOC, and the hiring of more African-American assistant coaches. The boycott gained little support, so John and his fellow teammate/runner Tommie Smith decide to stage a protest if either should win a medal. This is what John had to say about the boycott and protest, "Well, it wasn’t difficult for me at all. It wasn’t difficult for me at all, because I evaluate the Olympic Games as a track meet. I’ve been in many track meets. But the bottom line is whether we can make a statement for society. I feel like, you know, medals are great. But medals are nowhere near close to what life is all about.". After talking to the other members of the US team John stopped the train and put up banners announcing the boycott.

## Influence on the Civil Rights movement

John Carlos's overall impact on the civil rights movement may not have seemed like a big deal, but to put it in the words of Dr. King, "'That’s the Olympic boycott.' He said, 'And the greatest thing about it is that you will wake the world up in a very nonviolent way.'”. The pure power that John and Tommie created with the image of them holding up the black power sign will never be topped. They were also some of the first Black people to use their platform and fame as a way to talk about and show support in the fight against these issues.

## References

Team USA page on John Carlos

NBC article on John and his activism

The Guardian interview with John

US Olympics bio on John Carlos

NBCSports article and video