Eminem (was: Influenced by GR?)

[jbor]

----------
>From: Thomas Eckhardt <uzs7lz at uni-bonn.de>

> What I was referring to was the opposite side of the outwardly
> induced inferiority complex of the colonized people, namely a strong
> reassertion of black pride and manhood (finding political expression in the
> Black Power Movement or in Afrocentrism or, in a different but, I guess,
> related way, in the Nation of Islam) which cannot be understood without
> taking into account the preceding centuries of oppression. My main source
> for this would be Frantz Fanon, whose "Black Skin, White Masks" is an
> utterly fascinating book. After having described the psychological
> structures at hand Fanon argues that by turning the manichaeic equation, in
> which white means good and black means bad ("The Bible says so..."), on its
> head, the descendants of slaves remain imprisoned by the set of binary
> oppositions, inherent in most of Western culture and of inestimable value
> for the process of colonization, thus perpetuating the division. I don't
> presume to know what is right.

Yes. But I wonder if that Black Power salute by Tommie Smith and John Carlos
on the podium after the 200 metres final at the Mexico Olympics that so
horrified "Most Normal (white) Americans" was saying "black is good and
white is bad", or whether it was just saying "black is good". When the
Australian who finished second to Smith, Peter Norman, found out in the
athletes' lounge prior to the awards ceremony about the gesture the two
runners were planning to make, he was so impressed by their moral courage
that he asked if there was anything he could do to show his support for
their cause. The Americans were delighted, and gave Norman a human rights
badge to wear, the same badge that they wore:

     Norman put it on and the three of them headed out to the dais for the
   medal ceremony as trumpets sounded their arrival. The two Americans were
   wearing only black socks on their feet, "to symbolise black poverty" they
   would later say, and a very set expression on their faces, like they
   meant business.
     They climbed the podium, and turned to face the two American flags and
   one Australian flag as they were raised. Then it happened. As 'The Star
   Spangled Banner' started to warble into the thin twilight air, both Smith
   and Carlos silently lifted to the sky their clenched fists encased in
   black gloves. It was the famed Black Power salute.
     "I was standing there, and I could hear this particularly rich baritone
   voice singing 'The Star Spangled Banner', really belting it out, and then
   the voice suddenly faded out. I knew then that John and Tommie had gone
   ahead with it ... "
     The same thing happened all over the stadium, with the singing replaced
   by stunned silence, which was in short order replaced by catcalls and
   booing. Neither Carlos nor Smith moved a muscle, just took it. Standing
   in front of them, Norman felt basically calm, but extremely aware of just
   how fierce the reaction was ... "But", he says, "my attitude was they'd
   earned the right to do what they thought they had to do with their one
   square metre of Olympic dais, and I was glad they were doing it, and glad
   I was with them."

At the press conference afterwards Carlos expanded on why they had done it:

     "White people think of black people as animals to do a job and not to
   think about it afterwards. There were many boos and thumbs-down from
   whites in the stand when we were receiving our medals. Some people seem
   to think we are like show horses. You can throw them some peanuts if they
   do their job ... We are the equals of anyone; it's about time everyone
   knew it."

That night, at midnight, the two Americans were suspended from the US
Olympic team and ordered to leave the Village. Neither ran for America
again. Though officially reprimanded for his involvement, "taking part in an
internatiuonal embarrassment", Peter Norman's small gesture of solidarity
with the two Americans is something he and "most Australians" were proud of.
Three years ago he met up with Smith and Carlos again in Malibu for a tv
sports show, and each man remarked on the "extraordinary closeness" they
felt towards one another, the bond between them.

Norman says of Smith and Carlos' gesture:

     " ... their noble, silent salute at the Mexico Olympics helped make
   people in the street aware of racial issues, and it went a long way
   towards raising consciousness that there was serious racial discord
   that must be addressed. It was a wake-up call to America and the
   world, and it took the image of a 'demonstration' away from rioting in
   the streets of the Bronx, and put it right in the middle of peaceful
   sports. It was like this black thing isn't just riots and brick-throwing,
   it's now everywhere. I'd like to think it was a real catalyst towards
   change."

(adapted from an article by Peter FitzSimons in *Everyone and Phar Lap, Face
to Face with the Best of Australian Sport*, 1999)

It's a good story. And, the photo of the three medallists on that podium is
one of the truly great human images imo. (Sorry for the soap-boxing.)

best