This picture was taken during the height of the civil rights movement, at the Olympics in Mexico City in 1968. To me, it evokes a wide range of, sometimes contradictory, emotions: unity, loneliness, strength, perseverance, defiance, solidarity. There’s the “leader” Tommie Smith, gold medalist, holding his fist up high, seeming to tell the world, “I can do this, we can do this, and we will not be defeated.” Yet I can’t stop wondering what he is actually thinking, as he looks very pensive and cerebral in his stature. There’s his “sidekick,” bronze medalist John Carlos, the loyal follower - happy to be assisting his teammate, and with a slight hint of a satisfaction on his face, perhaps happy to have won a medal as well. And then there’s the Australian, who seems either oblivious or purposefully ignorant to what’s going on behind him, or is it next to him – it’s hard to tell.

The photograph is simple enough – three men in clear focus, standing on a podium for all the world to see. Yet no one is looking at the camera. The two Americans seem to be perhaps closing their eyes, or looking at the ground. The Australian seems to be staring into space, missing the incredibly rebellious moment of the two men next to him. We can’t recognize any other people in the photograph. It makes me wonder – who is their audience? Who was watching this incredible moment? Did Mexicans, Australians, and other people in other countries understand the magnitude and importance of the civil rights movement in the U.S.? Were there Americans who were burying their heads in the sand or staring into nothingness as well? Perhaps these two bold athletes left it up to whoever was watching to join in the cause and make the next move in the fight for equal rights.

Ironically, or perhaps not so ironically in view of other individuals’ actions during the civil rights movement (Rosa Parks spending time in jail, for example), these two men were suspended from the U.S. team as a result of their actions. The powers that be would not tolerate political statements made during the Olympics, which should be about sport and competition.

Yet the picture remains a classic image in Olympic history and in the civil rights movement. These men took a bold risk for their noble cause, and ultimately for their country.