The beads around my neck [at Olympics in 1968] indicated that there were so many Blacks throughout the history of this country that have been maimed and killed by way of hangings. John Carlos More Quotes by John Carlos More Quotes From John Carlos How can you ask someone to live in the world and not have something to say about injustice? John Carlos injustice asks world In life, there's the beginning and the end. The beginning don't matter. The end don't matter. All that matters is what you do in between – whether you're prepared to do what it takes to make change. There has to be physical and material sacrifice. When all the dust settles and we're getting ready to play down for the ninth inning, the greatest reward is to know that you did your job when you were here on the planet. John Carlos sacrifice dust jobs The bottom line is, if you stay home, your message stays home with you. If you stand for justice and equality, you have an obligation to find the biggest possible megaphone to let your feelings be known. Don't let your message be buried and don't bury yourself. John Carlos home justice feelings It stands for diversity. It stands for vision and strength. It stands for belief in the right things. That's what I think it stands for. John Carlos diversity vision thinking I'm a man that has a vision as to how this world can be, and I've gathered myself through all the ordeals that I had to make me a well-rounded person and still fight for justice. John Carlos fighting justice men The beginning don't matter. The end don't matter. All that matters is what you do in between...the greatest reward is to know that you did your job when you were here on the planet. John Carlos rewards matter jobs Let's start with the black glove. We felt it necessary being the fact that the Olympic Games, for the first time ever [in 1968], had been televised worldwide. The second thing is the fact that it was in Technicolor. Never had the games been shown in color before.We wanted it to be understood that we were representing America, but we were representing Black America in particular, so that's why we put the black glove on. John Carlos color games america Becoming involved in sports and traveling the world and seeing how people of color were treated around the world, and America being such a great nation, probably the greatest nation in the world, I think that the thing that would destroy this nation more than anything is the inequality that we have amongst people of color. John Carlos color sports thinking The black socks [on me at Olympics in 1968] emphasized the fact that we had so many Blacks and people of color here in the United States, the greatest country in the world, that was running around in poverty every day, so we wanted to illustrate the fact that these individuals did not have shoes and they had to walk 20 miles to and from school every day with no shoes in the greatest country in the world. John Carlos running country school We wanted to bring attention to the fact that we had so many deals taking place that we could have made change for the better for all people, and we felt that we would be a catalyst to bring this to attention to society. John Carlos would-be attention people Like I tell everyone, I say the bottom line to my life is that I've gone through torments in my life, but it made me stronger. I haven't lost my mind, I haven't become a dope fiend, I'm not a drug pusher, I'm not a stick-up man. John Carlos dope drug men I think the Olympic Games have been married to political statements. If I go back to Berlin in 1936, it was very politically orientated then, just with the Nazis. John Carlos political games thinking Peter [Norman] never denounced us, he never turned his back on us, he never walked away from us, he never said one thing against what he stood for in Mexico City, and that was freedom, justice and equality for all God's people. John Carlos cities justice people If you look at the Olympic Games as a whole, if we would say we didn't want to interject politics into the games, then why are we using nation's flags? Why don't we use one Olympic flag to encompass all the Olympians, as opposed to being separatists in terms of China versus Russia or Russia versus the United States? Why don't we just say man versus man? John Carlos russia games men I think it's something that we said collectively, in terms of the fact that we was getting ready to face probably the biggest storms of our life, and we had to stand strong for what we believe in and carry on the legacy we just laid down for society. John Carlos strong believe thinking I'm sure there was people in Australia that told Peter Norman that hey, man, you shouldn't have done what you did, you shouldn't have gotten involved in those individuals, it wasn't your business. John Carlos australia men people It was like when we went to Mexico City [Olympics in 1968] it was sun and shining and bright. When we came home it was chaotic and storms everywhere. I think the most devastating thing was to make the adjustment as to why so many individuals that you grew up with in the sport thought it necessary to turn their backs and walk away from you. John Carlos home sports thinking [Sport officials] blocked their support of us. But those individuals [ Muhammad Ali, the Jim Browns, the Bill Russells, Kareem Abdul Jabbar ] were old enough, they were wise enough, and they knew their history and this is why they came out in support of us, because they knew that we had our finger on the right move. John Carlos wise sports moving The government did a lot of things to us in terms of sending pictures to my house. If I had to go to a school to give a speech and the sorority wanted to sign a song, they would send [a person] to my house and tell my wife that I had sex with this woman or that woman.It got to the point where my wife didn't know what to believe anymore, and the fact that I didn't have a job, I couldn't support my bills, the fact that I was getting ready to go through maybe a mental setback in terms of depression, we just had a tremendous amount of things on us. John Carlos song jobs sex I think society had to grow up to the mentality of Peter Norman. John Carlos peter growing-up thinking
