American Olympian Dr John Carlos marks special Black History Month celebration | News

TORONTO:

Dr John Carlos — the American Olympian who, at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City joined his teammate, Tommie Smith, in raising their black-gloved fists at the medal podium for the men’s 200-metre dash to signal their defiance of the treatment of black people in the United States and around the world — knew from a young age that he was destined to make a difference.

He was the special guest at last month’s Black History Month celebration titled ‘2025 Bold, Beautiful and Brilliant’ held by Toronto Metropolitan University.

Carlos who was born and raised in Harlem, New York City, recalls a spiritual experience in 1945, that seemed to point to his life purpose.

“I had a vision of myself at seven or eight years old standing on a grass field on a box, no one out there on this field but little Johnny. I could hear all type of yippee ki yay and excitement. I couldn’t see the people that was doing this but could hear them. And you as a little kid when you think you did something to make people happy you feel good, you have pride in you.”

The civil rights activist said in that vision, he raised his left fist, and it seemed that someone hit a switch, and all the accolades that he was receiving earlier turned to venom.

After sharing his concern about his vision with his father, Carlos Sr assured him that no one would be bothering him. His father reminded him that his job was to love, feed, house him, and see to it that he got a good education.

“He leaned over my head, and he said, ‘Vi, looks like God has something special for this kid. We’re going to wait and see what it is’.” His mother, Vioris Lawrence, was born in Jamaica in 1919 and raised in Santiago, Cuba. Earl Vanderbilt Carlos Sr, his father, was born in South Carolina in 1895 and was a World War 1 veteran.

Carlos said as he developed, he became more aggressive and started questioning the reason things were broken and not fixed or addressed. He decided that someone had to fix things and started dealing with situations in his school.

For example, it surprised him that he attended the Fredrick Douglass Junior High School and there was no picture of the American abolitionist and orator in the school. As a young student, he began to challenge the teachers regarding the material they were teaching. Today, he calls it a lifelong commitment to activism, and underscored to the students the importance of making the world a better place.

ONGOING FIGHT

Chancellor, Jamaica-born Donette Chin -Loy Chang, said Carlos, the bronze medallist, and Smith, the gold medallist, bowed their heads during the playing of the American anthem at the Olympics medal presentation to symbolise poverty, and Carlos wore a beaded necklace to honour black Americans who had been lynched.

Describing both men as making history with their extraordinary act of bravery, she reminded the students that many of them are of the ages — 23 and 24 years— as Carlos and Smith were, respectively, when they signalled their peaceful protest.

“Their fellow medallist, Australian Peter Norman, stood in solidarity, wearing an Olympic Project for Human Rights pin. What courage that took, and yet just two days later, the US Olympic Committee suspended only John and Tommie. Over time, their stand has become more than a protest. It has become a symbol of the ongoing fight for justice and equity,” she said.

She urged the students to seek, tell, and embrace truth now when “hard-won freedoms are being eroded” and “facts are too often overshadowed by conspiracies and half-truths”.

Jen McMillen, the vice-provost of students, noted that there remained an urgent need to keep insisting that the status quo is unacceptable.

“This event, the opportunity to come together with like-minded, deeply passionate, and principled people, is taking place during what feels like a particularly challenging time. After nearly six decades when Dr Carlos raised his fist in the air on the world stage, equity-deserving groups are still fighting for their rights, their right to fair treatment, their right to safety, their right to exist in peace. And after nearly six decades, people in positions of power are still threatened by the idea that everyone deserves to be seen, to be heard, and have the opportunity to thrive. It’s an exhausting truth,” she said.

Visual communicator, graphic designer, and painter Mark Stoddart, who introduced Carlos to the audience, said Malcolm X changed his trajectory of life “but reading the story of Dr John Carlos changed my heart”.