This week marks 54 years since one of the most powerful and enduring protests in Olympic and civil rights history.
Tommie Smith and John Carlos stood silently on the 1968 Olympic podium with their heads bowed and their fists raised to denounce racial discrimination.
Both men were San Jose State students and on Thursday, the university honored their social activism while announcing a major development for the school squad those two men once competed on.
“They held the belief that what they did was right, and history has proved them correct,” said Dr. Scott Myers-Lipton, SJSU sociology professor.
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In 2005, students raised $300,000 to build the statues and insisted it be placed right in the middle of SJSU as a constant reminder of an ongoing struggle.
“They showed us how to be creative when you act,” said Myers-Lipton. “As we all know, Tommie and John bowed their heads. This was a show of non-violence. They took off their shoes to highlight the poverty in America, specifically Black America.”
Dr. Harry Edwards was the architect of the Olympic project for human rights, protesting racism in sports, which led to the Black power salute protest used by Smith and Carlos.
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“When we look back on this and realize that Nelson Mandela had a poster of Smith and Carlos smuggled into his jail cell and he taught prisoners on Robben Island in South Africa before his release about the role of sport in society … We still have things that we can learn not just from that movement but from the spinoffs of that movement,” said Edwards.
On this anniversary, SJUS announced they’ve received $9 million in funding for a new project -- dubbed the "Speed City Legacy Center and Track and Field Facility” to be located at the county fairgrounds site where SJSU athletes will compete.
Dr. Edwards said he's proud of the center that will honor past accomplishments on and off the field while looking to the future.
“We’re talking about Smith and Carlos and the Olympic project for human rights 54 years later because of the significance and importance of that movement,” said Edwards. “We will be talking about this [project] hopefully 54 years from now because of what it does in terms of bringing SJSU, the community all together.”
