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comment by Meriadoc




thenewgreen  ·  3648 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Yep, that is immediately the image that was brought to mind when I read this.

Meriadoc  ·  3648 days ago  ·  link  ·  

And to make it known that this shit was never just limited to the 60's, the man on the left, who supported them and joined them, Australian Peter Norman, was outcast by his country until two fucking years ago.

    Australia's Olympic authorities reprimanded him for his gesture and the Australian media ostracised him.[3] Despite Norman running qualifying times for the 100m five times and 200m 13 times during 1971/72, the Australian Olympic track team did not send him, or any other male sprinters, to the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, the first modern Olympics since 1896 where no Australian sprinters participated

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    Australian organising authorities overlooked Norman as being involved in any way with the 2000 Summer Olympics held in Sydney; he was however eventually part of the event after being invited by the United States when they heard that his own country had failed to do so.

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    On 11 October 2012 the Australian Parliament passed the wording of an official apology that read: “ 15 PETER NORMAN

    The order of the day having been read for the resumption of the debate on the motion of Dr Leigh— That this House:

        (1) recognises the extraordinary athletic achievements of the late Peter Norman, who won the silver
        medal in the 200 metres sprint running event at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, in a time of 20.06
        seconds, which still stands as the Australian record;
        (2) acknowledges the bravery of Peter Norman in donning an Olympic Project for Human Rights
        badge on the podium, in solidarity with African-American athletes Tommie Smith and John
        Carlos, who gave the ‘black power’ salute;
        (3) apologises to Peter Norman for the wrong done by Australia in failing to send him to the 1972
        Munich Olympics, despite repeatedly qualifying; and
        (4) belatedly recognises the powerful role that Peter Norman played in furthering racial equality—
        Debate resumed by Dr Leigh who moved, by leave, as an amendment—Omit paragraph (3), substitute:
        (3) apologises to Peter Norman for the treatment he received upon his return to Australia, and the
        failure to fully recognise his inspirational role before his untimely death in 2006; and
        Debate continued.
    Question—That the amendment be agreed to—put and passed. Question—That the motion, as amended, be agreed to—put and passed.

And even then, they couldn't unanimously agree that they did wrong and he deserved an apology.