Remembering the White Guy on the Podium: Peter Norman

[AthenaAwakened]

that white man in the photo is, perhaps, the third hero of that night in 1968. His name was Peter Norman, he was an Australian that arrived in the 200 meters finals after having ran an amazing 20.22 in the semi finals. Only the two Americans, Tommie “The Jet” Smith and John Carlos had done better: 20.14 and 20.12, respectively.

...

Smith and Carlos had decided to get up on the stadium wearing the Olympic Project for Human Rights badge, a movement of athletes in support of the battle for equality.

They would receive their medals barefoot, representing the poverty facing people of color. They would wear the famous black gloves, a symbol of the Black Panthers’ cause. But before going up on the podium they realized they only had one pair of black gloves. “Take one each”, Norman suggested. Smith and Carlos took his advice.

But then Norman did something else. “I believe in what you believe. Do you have another one of those for me ?” he asked pointing to the Olympic Project for Human Rights badge on the others’ chests. “That way I can show my support in your cause.” Smith admitted to being astonished, ruminating: “Who is this white Australian guy? He won his silver medal, can’t he just take it and that be enough!”.


Smith responded that he didn’t, also because he would not be denied his badge. There happened to be a white American rower with them, Paul Hoffman, an activist with the Olympic Project for Human Rights. After hearing everything he thought “if a white Australian is going to ask me for an Olympic Project for Human Rights badge, then by God he would have one!” Hoffman didn’t hesitate: “I gave him the only one I had: mine”.

The three went out on the field and got up on the podium: the rest is history, preserved in the power of the photo. “I couldn’t see what was happening,” Norman recounts, “[but] I had known they had gone through with their plans when a voice in the crowd sang the American anthem but then faded to nothing. The stadium went quiet.”

A Good man who did the right thing and because of the blindness of others, suffered for it.

Read more at The White Man in That Photo

 

[laughing dog]

I was in high school at the time of the 1972 Olympics. I didn't understand the furor back then. Looking back, the furor looks ridiculous and shameful. I didn't notice Norman's solidarity with Smith and Carlos. I had no idea that Norman suffered for standing up for basic human dignity.

Thanks for the story, AA.

 

[maxparrish]

I don't mind tragic stories about bad choices, but I'd prefer a little broader perspective and a less historical amnesia. That white guy was typical of many naive liberals of the era - not of sufficient wealth to be a member of the Radical Chic panther groupies, but clearly as credulous. Whatever his definition of, or feelings about human rights, choosing to be associated with the panther's black glove salute was moronic.

Bobby Seale, Co-chair and founder of the BPP (the Chicago 8 member whose out of control behavior caused the judge to order him shackled to a chair and gagged) Seale confirmed how deprave the BBP were (at a reunion in the early 2000s, no less):

In a recent speech at a Panther reunion, he confessed that the Panthers were little more than extortionists, gangsters and murderers and that they killed Betty Van Patter -- whose murder remains unsolved till this day. As expected, the former Panther engaged in selective memory and exonerated himself from any personal wrongdoing in Panther crimes. He also called David Horowitz a liar –- even though he (Seale) simultaneously admitted that the Panthers were everything Horowitz has been saying they were. ...

Eldridge Cleaver’s confession did the same several years back. In the now famous 1998 60 Minutes program during which he admitted the pernicious ruthlessness of the Panthers, the former Panther leader discussed his change of heart. Cleaver stated,"If people had listened to Huey Newton and me in the 1960s, there would have been a holocaust in this country."

As a fellow traveler of a criminal cause he made a poor choice. And tragically, he never really understood why.

- See more at: http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/695#sthash.NiCESTlI.dpuf

 

[AthenaAwakened]

I don't mind tragic stories about bad choices, but I'd prefer a little broader perspective and a less historical amnesia. That white guy was typical of many naive liberals of the era - not of sufficient wealth to be a member of the Radical Chic panther groupies, but clearly as credulous. Whatever his definition of, or feelings about human rights, choosing to be associated with the panther's black glove salute was moronic.

Bobby Seale, Co-chair and founder of the BPP (the Chicago 8 member whose out of control behavior caused the judge to order him shackled to a chair and gagged) Seale confirmed how deprave the BBP were (at a reunion in the early 2000s, no less):

In a recent speech at a Panther reunion, he confessed that the Panthers were little more than extortionists, gangsters and murderers and that they killed Betty Van Patter -- whose murder remains unsolved till this day. As expected, the former Panther engaged in selective memory and exonerated himself from any personal wrongdoing in Panther crimes. He also called David Horowitz a liar –- even though he (Seale) simultaneously admitted that the Panthers were everything Horowitz has been saying they were. ...

Eldridge Cleaver’s confession did the same several years back. In the now famous 1998 60 Minutes program during which he admitted the pernicious ruthlessness of the Panthers, the former Panther leader discussed his change of heart. Cleaver stated,"If people had listened to Huey Newton and me in the 1960s, there would have been a holocaust in this country."

As a fellow traveler of a criminal cause he made a poor choice. And tragically, he never really understood why.

- See more at: http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/695#sthash.NiCESTlI.dpuf

Max

Get bent.

 

[laughing dog]

I don't mind tragic stories about bad choices, but I'd prefer a little broader perspective and a less historical amnesia. That white guy was typical of many naive liberals of the era - not of sufficient wealth to be a member of the Radical Chic panther groupies, but clearly as credulous. Whatever his definition of, or feelings about human rights, choosing to be associated with the panther's black glove salute was moronic.

Bobby Seale, Co-chair and founder of the BPP (the Chicago 8 member whose out of control behavior caused the judge to order him shackled to a chair and gagged) Seale confirmed how deprave the BBP were (at a reunion in the early 2000s, no less):

In a recent speech at a Panther reunion, he confessed that the Panthers were little more than extortionists, gangsters and murderers and that they killed Betty Van Patter -- whose murder remains unsolved till this day. As expected, the former Panther engaged in selective memory and exonerated himself from any personal wrongdoing in Panther crimes. He also called David Horowitz a liar –- even though he (Seale) simultaneously admitted that the Panthers were everything Horowitz has been saying they were. ...

Eldridge Cleaver’s confession did the same several years back. In the now famous 1998 60 Minutes program during which he admitted the pernicious ruthlessness of the Panthers, the former Panther leader discussed his change of heart. Cleaver stated,"If people had listened to Huey Newton and me in the 1960s, there would have been a holocaust in this country."

As a fellow traveler of a criminal cause he made a poor choice. And tragically, he never really understood why.

- See more at: http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/695#sthash.NiCESTlI.dpuf

Peter Norman did not give the salute. His "crime" was wearing the Olympic Project for Human Rights badge. So your entire response is based on a false conclusion.

 

[AthenaAwakened]

I don't mind tragic stories about bad choices, but I'd prefer a little broader perspective and a less historical amnesia. That white guy was typical of many naive liberals of the era - not of sufficient wealth to be a member of the Radical Chic panther groupies, but clearly as credulous. Whatever his definition of, or feelings about human rights, choosing to be associated with the panther's black glove salute was moronic.

Bobby Seale, Co-chair and founder of the BPP (the Chicago 8 member whose out of control behavior caused the judge to order him shackled to a chair and gagged) Seale confirmed how deprave the BBP were (at a reunion in the early 2000s, no less):



As a fellow traveler of a criminal cause he made a poor choice. And tragically, he never really understood why.

- See more at: http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/695#sthash.NiCESTlI.dpuf

Peter Norman did not give the salute. His "crime" was wearing the Olympic Project for Human Rights badge. So your entire response is based on a false conclusion.

So, what else is new?

 

[Derec]

White Guy on the podium? You mean Sebastian Vettel?

Although Nico Rosberg and Valteri Bottas got robbed!

Oh, you mean an Olympic podium from almost 50 years ago? There is absolutely nothing admirable about the Black Panthers and it is shameful what went on at that podium.
They were a racist, murderous, Maoist group of armed thugs and no amount of breakfasts they might have served or ridiculously biased PBS documentaries will cover the crimes, including many murders, this group committed.
Max already mentioned Betty Van Patter so I will talk about Alex Rackley.

Rackley, a slight, 19-year-old black kid from Florida, was tough (he had a black belt in karate), but hardly in a position to resist his psychopathic interrogators. During a previous beating he had gamely tried, kicking and flailing and swinging his arms. But this time he was tied to the chair, with a towel stuffed in his mouth to mute the screams.[..] When the bubbling cauldrons were brought to the basement—four or five of them—they were thrown over Rackley’s naked body. Then they worked him over some more. With him burned, battered, and bloodied, the towel was removed from his mouth. As a warning to those who would sell out the party to the Feds (“jackanapes,” “pigs,” and “faggots,” in the party’s nomenclature), the Lubyanka-style proceedings would be recorded on half-inch tape.The interrogation begins with a woman’s voice: Brother Alex from New York was sleeping in the office…And I kicked him and said, “Motherfucker, wake up!” A few minutes pass, instinct kicks in, and Rackley tries to free himself. Sit down, motherfucker. Be still. [..]He wasn’t working for the Feds, but Rackley confessed to being a rat anyway. Why bother denying the “charges”? Every denial resulted in a new acts of barbarism anyway. Maybe this way he would be expelled from the party, but allowed to survive.[..]Three days later, covered in his own shit and piss, Rackley was cleaned up by one of the Panther women and hustled out of the house into an idling car: He would be driven to a boat, they said, and brought either to New York or home to his native Florida. With his arms again bound and a fresh noose around his neck—this one fashioned from a wire coat hanger—Alex Rackley, an illiterate teenager who had joined the Black Panther Party eight months earlier, was led to the edge of the Coginchaug River in Middlefield, Connecticut. Of course, there was no boat. And there was no escape. “Orders from national [headquarters],” said George Sams, the bloodthirsty ringleader of the hit squad. “Ice him.” Warren Kimbro, a Black Panther party cadre from the New Haven branch, put the first bullet in Rackley’s head, collapsing him in the shallow water. As his body heaved, another Panther foot soldier, Lonnie McLucas, took the gun from Kimbro and fired a bullet into his chest, just in case. They didn’t bother checking, but Alex Rackley was still alive, gasping and in pain, one expert later speculated, for almost four hours.

Taken from: Whitewashing the Black Panthers
Kimbro only served 4 years and became assistant dean of Eastern Connecticut State University. McLucas also served only a short sentence. Erica Huggins, whose voice can be heard in interrogation tapes was acquitted and went on to "teach" at Laney University and Berkeley City College (what is it with US universities loving to hire left wing radicals even when they were involved in murder?) Bobby Seale, suspected of ordering the hit, and whose name crops up routinely around other Black Panther hits, was acquitted. Predictably, he "taught" at Temple University.
Again, Athena, there is nothing whatsoever admirable about this outfit. Besides, aren't Olympic medalists prohibited from political expression on the podium?

 

[untermensche]

The Black Panthers were just the rational response you would expect from people facing government oppression.

People who think that violence in the face of government oppression is something evil obviously haven't faced much.

 

[Derec]

The Black Panthers were just the rational response you would expect from people facing government oppression.

You are in agreement with this guy. He also believed violence in face of what he perceived as "government oppression" was justified and rational.

Thank FSM Black Panthers never managed to get their hands on large quantities of ammonium nitrite fertilizer and diesel fuel (AMFO), although their allies at Weather Underground did dabble in explosives, trying to blow up Columbia University (where one of their terrorists now teaches)

 

[untermensche]

The Black Panthers were just the rational response you would expect from people facing government oppression.

You are in agreement with this guy.

So the oppression of blacks in the 1960's is equivalent to things McVeigh complained about, in your mind?

Telling.

 

[Derec]

So the oppression of blacks in the 1960's is equivalent to things McVeigh complained about, in your mind?

I am talking about your justification of political violence.
And we would have been much farther along in race relations had it not been for violent groups like the Panthers. Race-based political violence of the 60s and 70s influenced the violence-glorifying gangsta rap culture of 80s and 90s. Sometimes the connection is familial, like with convicted cop-killer and fugitive from justice (and former Black Panther) Assata Shakur who was aunt and godmother of gangsta rapper Tupac Shakur. Gangsta rap and hip hop culture and their glorification of thuggery and violent crimes leads to much higher violent crime rates among black young people and consequently higher chance they will be killed by police. I.e. no Black Panthers, likely no #blacklivesmatter either.

 

[untermensche]

So the oppression of blacks in the 1960's is equivalent to things McVeigh complained about, in your mind?

I am talking about your justification of political violence.
And we would have been much farther along in race relations had it not been for violent groups like the Panthers. Race-based political violence of the 60s and 70s influenced the violence-glorifying gangsta rap culture of 80s and 90s. Sometimes the connection is familial, like with convicted cop-killer and fugitive from justice (and former Black Panther) Assata Shakur who was aunt and godmother of gangsta rapper Tupac Shakur. Gangsta rap and hip hop culture and their glorification of thuggery and violent crimes leads to much higher violent crime rates among black young people and consequently higher chance they will be killed by police. I.e. no Black Panthers, likely no #blacklivesmatter either.

The gangsta rap culture develops because of the drug war and the high incarceration rate of young black men as a result.

Also because of the disproportionate poverty and abuse from the police suffered by blacks.

And I am not justifying violence only saying that oppression leads to it.

 

[fast]

The Black Panthers were just the rational response you would expect from people facing government oppression.

People who think that violence in the face of government oppression is something evil obviously haven't faced much.

Most people wouldn't characterize unjust actions as a "rational response you would expect. If I woke up on the pedantic side of bed, I could suppose a person that is trying to justify immoral behavior could be doing so in a rational way: methodical and thoughtful but just not accurate, as opposed to being truly irrational due to perhaps drugs. I do sometimes fully expect (gosh I hope that's the right word) for certain redneck parents to be proud to learn their child physically fought back during an in school fistfight. Not expect as in want it, ... maybe "anticipate" is a better word.

 

[untermensche]

The Black Panthers were just the rational response you would expect from people facing government oppression.

People who think that violence in the face of government oppression is something evil obviously haven't faced much.

Most people wouldn't characterize unjust actions as a "rational response you would expect. If I woke up on the pedantic side of bed, I could suppose a person that is trying to justify immoral behavior could be doing so in a rational way: methodical and thoughtful but just not accurate, as opposed to being truly irrational due to perhaps drugs. I do sometimes fully expect (gosh I hope that's the right word) for certain redneck parents to be proud to learn their child physically fought back during an in school fistfight. Not expect as in want it, ... maybe "anticipate" is a better word.

What specifically are you accusing the Black Panthers of?

I see no facts in your gibberish.

 

[atrib]

So the oppression of blacks in the 1960's is equivalent to things McVeigh complained about, in your mind?

I am talking about your justification of political violence.
And we would have been much farther along in race relations had it not been for violent groups like the Panthers. Race-based political violence of the 60s and 70s influenced the violence-glorifying gangsta rap culture of 80s and 90s. Sometimes the connection is familial, like with convicted cop-killer and fugitive from justice (and former Black Panther) Assata Shakur who was aunt and godmother of gangsta rapper Tupac Shakur. Gangsta rap and hip hop culture and their glorification of thuggery and violent crimes leads to much higher violent crime rates among black young people and consequently higher chance they will be killed by police. I.e. no Black Panthers, likely no #blacklivesmatter either.

It is ironic that you should be complaining about violence when you repeatedly justify the actions of some criminal police officers who continue to inflict systemic violence and sometimes murder on black people under the protection of their badge. The very same people they are sworn to serve and protect. Or your shameless support of vigilante sociopaths who murder unarmed black teenagers on the street simply because they view them as thugs. Black-on-black violence, however real a problem that may be, does not justify such actions, nor does it excuse your continued apologetics. If you have never been the target of racism you will never understand the experience of being colored in America, but you can still be a human being with empathy for your fellow humans.

 

[laughing dog]

Peter Norman was showing solidarity with the Olympic Movement for Human Rights, not the Black Panthers. So why the fuck are people focusing in the Black Panthers?

 

[fast]

Most people wouldn't characterize unjust actions as a "rational response you would expect. If I woke up on the pedantic side of bed, I could suppose a person that is trying to justify immoral behavior could be doing so in a rational way: methodical and thoughtful but just not accurate, as opposed to being truly irrational due to perhaps drugs. I do sometimes fully expect (gosh I hope that's the right word) for certain redneck parents to be proud to learn their child physically fought back during an in school fistfight. Not expect as in want it, ... maybe "anticipate" is a better word.

What specifically are you accusing the Black Panthers of?

I see no facts in your gibberish.

Violence in the face of government oppression?

I may have inadvertently misinterpreted you as trying to justify immoral behavior.

 

[RavenSky]

Really excellent article. Thank you Athena!

 

[maxparrish]

I don't mind tragic stories about bad choices, but I'd prefer a little broader perspective and a less historical amnesia. That white guy was typical of many naive liberals of the era - not of sufficient wealth to be a member of the Radical Chic panther groupies, but clearly as credulous. Whatever his definition of, or feelings about human rights, choosing to be associated with the panther's black glove salute was moronic.

Bobby Seale, Co-chair and founder of the BPP (the Chicago 8 member whose out of control behavior caused the judge to order him shackled to a chair and gagged) Seale confirmed how deprave the BBP were (at a reunion in the early 2000s, no less):



As a fellow traveler of a criminal cause he made a poor choice. And tragically, he never really understood why.

- See more at: http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/695#sthash.NiCESTlI.dpuf

Peter Norman did not give the salute. His "crime" was wearing the Olympic Project for Human Rights badge. So your entire response is based on a false conclusion.

I did not say he gave the BP salute, I said he allowed himself to be associated with it, and the Black Panthers. He insisted on participating, adorning the human rights badge they also displayed. Clearly he was supportive, as the two other 'black power' activists appreciated. He let it be known that he was "with them".

Had he said otherwise, your claim of innocence would at least have a plausible basis - but he did not.

 

[maxparrish]

Peter Norman did not give the salute. His "crime" was wearing the Olympic Project for Human Rights badge. So your entire response is based on a false conclusion.

So, what else is new?

I see, so all that crap in the article about being a fellow traveler to the the fisted protesters is false? He denied supporting black power protest? Sorry Athena, you provided the link that tells us just the opposite...in sanitized weepy-ness.