A year ago today I wrote my first blog entry. You can find it here. It’s a test one really, not about much; though in saying that I do Bobbin and Tess a disservice.

A year ago I was full of crazy excitement. Blogging was a new adventure. I hadn’t got a clue what I would write. I felt that bit by bit, writing at least a post a day, I would find my feet and discover why I was doing this.

A year on I’ve slowed down a bit. No post every day, but I try for a couple a week. And I’ve expanded. We’ve got the Trev and Simon blog on the go, and I’ve started 20th Century Mummified Fox- a blog where I can indulge in my love of films.

I still don’t know why I’m doing this. I haven’t found my feet. Of course it’s an indulgence; no doubt I am showing off, but showing off what? It’s not a comedy blog. It’s not some kind of confessional. I’m no film critic. Nor a photographer. But this blog is made up of bits of all of these. And lots of animals.

And it keeps me busy when times are tough. I enjoy it. And so, sometimes, do some of you. All of the people who come here and read or look, thank you. I know there’s lots of blogs out there, blah blah blah airline appreciation speech.

And thank you all for your comments. I enjoy reading them and I enjoy the interaction. And, to my pleasant surprise, the comments over the year have been thoughtful and considered, even when being critical. I haven’t, as yet, had to delete any for taking the chance to hurl abuse at me. Still, there’s time. My blog is just a baby.

Since the whole blogging thing is one enormous indulgence, for Mummified Fox’s first birthday I am going to pick some of my blog favourites from my 234 posts. One from each month.

November 2008- This and That’s Entertainment. Every year I go to Great Yarmouth to play pool. But which is best, Great Yarmouth or Las Vegas?

December 2008- Tommie Smith and John Carlos. I drag my family to see the Tommie Smith and John Carlos statue in San Jose.

January 2009- Murderer. Me, Trev and Cyndi Lauper have a close shave with Coronation Street murderer Tony Gordon.

February 2009- Deal or No Deal on the Dole. Ok, a bit of a weird one. this is a story about Deal or No Deal, Noel Edmonds, a luckless contestant, and Cosmic ordering.

March 2009- The Nazis. I drew them at school and only got a B+.

April 2009- A Nightingale sang in the 100 Club. A sort of review of the Nightingales and Ted Chippington.

May 2009- “Yes, I spent money on furniture”. Shadow Education Secretary Michael Gove and the elephant lamps we bought him. Including comments from the man himself (or so it seems).

June 2009- Pigs, a goose and a sheep. Just as it says.

July 2009- I’m going to cheat here and mention two posts. I’m not quite sure why it’s cheating; there’s no rules, it’s my blog. But at the top of this post I did say I’d pick one from each month, so yes, I am cheating. First Like the circles that you find- a guide to reglazing windows. And also RIP Rob. Rob sold the Big Issue outside Hither Green station. He died in July.

August 2009- Little and Large. My mum and dad used to go to The Talk of the North in the 70’s and see all the top acts. Years later I get to meet one of them.

September 2009- The Rogers Brothers and the Cox twins. The real life inspiration for two of our characters.

October 2009- Bigmouth strikes again. Possibly my most personal and indulgent post and also my most commented on.

So there’s some of my favourites for the year. If you click on any of them I hope you enjoy them. And if you do, please look at some of the remaining 221 posts.

I was going to use the blog’s first birthday to say why it’s called Mummified Fox. but I’m going to save that for next year.

Happy 1st Birthday Mummified Fox

I’m an alumna of San Jose State University, San Jose, California.

Go Spartans…

I graduated from there in 1976, the Bicentennial Year. Things were pretty quiet by the time I arrived there in 1972. Some of the football team lived on the fourth floor of my dorm, Markham Hall. There was no campus activism. The Hog Farm visited once. I saw my first adult movie at the student union auditorium…no, not Morris Dailey. There was no John Carlos or Tommie Smith. Even the Greeks were quiet. The only excitement came from a (for that time) hotly-contested student election; former president and S.F. State faculty alum John Bunzel, taking a cue from S.I. Hayakawa, messing with the econ department over some lefty profs; Jessica Mitford’s residency at State, and Hunter S. Thompson’s occasional campus visits. Yep, it was relatively quiet.

If you think cops only beat up blacks or Latinos, get real. They will beat up on just about anybody, given half a chance. It’s just that people of color get the nightstick oftener, and often with no real reason to get violent.

Police brutality against people of color has got to stop now. I mean, I feel as if I am looking at the Sixties all over again, when the Panthers first organized against this kind of thing. Just because cops are given a gun and a nightstick is not permission to beat up anyone any time they feel like it. These kinds of cops need to be landed on HARD. The more they do this kind of thing, the more lawsuits will be filed, the more cities and towns around the country will have to pay up.

This is what happened in September; the whole story is just coming out now with the release of this video on YouTube. I never got to finish watching the video. Ho’s cries were just too much for me to take.

A cell phone video shows San Jose police officers repeatedly using batons and a Taser gun on an unarmed San Jose State student, including at least one baton strike that appears to come after the man is handcuffed, as they took him into custody inside his home last month.

The video, made by one of the student’s roommates without the knowledge of police, shows that force was used even though the suspect was on the ground, and apparently offering no physical threat to the officers. Several experts in police force said the video appears to document excessive — and possibly illegal — force by the officers. A police spokesman Friday said the department had opened a criminal investigation of the officers’ conduct, after police officials viewed a copy of the recording.

Phuong Ho, 20, was beaten and Tasered in September by San Jose police in response to a housemate's call (Courtesy: Mercury-News)

The confrontation arose as Phuong Ho, a 20-year-old math major from Ho Chi Minh City, was arrested on suspicion of assaulting another of his roommates. He faces pending misdemeanor charges of exhibiting a deadly weapon and resisting arrest. Ho admits picking up a knife as he argued with a roommate. He was not armed when police arrived.

Experts cautioned that the grainy, shaky video, a copy of which was obtained by the Mercury News last week from Ho’s lawyers, is difficult to view and may not depict critical actions by Ho that justify the response. Nevertheless, four of the six experts who reviewed the video at the request of the newspaper said it raises serious concerns.

And what were those concerns?  Again, from the San Jose Mercury-News story:

1. Ho remains on the ground, moaning and crying, as he is repeatedly struck. He does not appear to offer significant resistance, suggesting the high level of force is not necessary.
2. The officer most visible in the sequence stands for much of the time in a casual posture, at one point with his legs crossed. He seems to show no concern that the situation is potentially dangerous — raising additional questions about why force was being used.
3. The final baton strike appears to occur after the handcuffs can be heard snapping onto Ho’s wrists.

Retired L.A. sheriff’s deputy and former lieutenant Roger Clark, a certified policing expert, declared that the third concern constituted “a felony.”  David Grossi from Florida, a law enforcement trainer and an expert on the use of police force said, “That is not what can be construed at first blush to be reasonable force.” Grossi was once a lieutenant and training commander with the New York Police Department.

Even former San Francisco mayor Frank Jordan, who was also a former San Francisco police chief, had to admit,  “Once he is handcuffed, then he is helpless. If you can show that his hands are behind his back, and he is handcuffed, that is where you get brutality. That would be excessive force. You have him in custody. This is one last coup de grace. Is that really necessary?”

Two of the experts the Mercury-News called upon, though, did not think that the video raised any concerns.  Thomas Aveni of the Police Policy Studies Council, said that the poor quality of the video made it impossible for him to come to a reasonable conclusion.  He said that the repeated use of a baton made the situation worse than what it really was. 

Oh, really?

And Brian Kinnard, who has previously testified on behalf of cops in cases questioning the use of force in the deaths or maiming of suspects, said that he saw nothing wrong, suggesting “that the question of whether force is ‘reasonable’ depends on the circumstances.”

Boy, those last two would get off Johannes Mehserle.  It’s no wonder that cops feel that they can get away with this kind of thing repeatedly and with their jobs and careers intact.  Meanwhile, there’s not enough money in the Universe or deeply-felt apologies from politicians or police that can ever bring back the lives of thousands of people who were just blown away for absolutely nothing, or have less productive lives because they are in a wheelchair or are emotionally scarred.

All the cops should have done was ask what was up, and interviewed both Suftin and Ho separately. Then it would have been up to Suftin to make a decision to press charges. If Suftin wouldn’t, then the incident would have been over. Instead, these idiots came in like gangbusters when the altercation was probably way over.

In a related story, the four cops involved in the beating and arrest of Phuong Ho have been placed on paid leave pending an investigation.

[...]Kenneth Siegel used his baton, and officer Steven Payne Jr. used his Taser gun to subdue Ho, whom the reports describe as violently kicking and refusing to comply with their orders as they attempted to place Ho in handcuffs.

But the grainy video, taken by one of Ho’s roommates, documents more than 10 baton strikes as well as Taser gun usage that some experts contacted by the Mercury News described as excessive and potentially criminal.

Police officials said Siegel and Payne, as well as two other officers who were at the scene — Jerome Smith and Gabriel Reyes — were placed on leave while their internal review proceeds.

And the kicking that the former cops were talking about? Probably not from Ho begging for mercy, but from the Tasering. The body always jerks from the charge of several hundred volts. The kicking was not intentional. These guys were total idiots; on top of the blunt force to the head and the Tasering, Ho could have died.

Phuong Ho has no criminal record. He lived in the student ghetto around San Jose State with several housemates. The incident in question? Some dishwater soap was either deliberately or accidentally slopped onto Ho’s dinner steak. He and the housemate with the dishwater, Jeremy Suftin, fought briefly, but when Ho picked up a steak knife, and said that in Vietnam, he could kill Suftin for such an act, Suftin freaked out. A couple of the other housemates who witnessed the incident actually laughed at what Ho had said, but Suftin called the cops.

Housemate Dimitri Masouris, who secretly cell-phone recorded the attack on Ho, said he considered the police response “unnecessary and excessive.” Masouris then sold the video to Duyen Hoang Nguyen, the San Jose lawyer now representing Ho, most probably to support Ho’s case against the cops.

Ho [...] told the Mercury News last week that he was not resisting arrest that September night, but that he was desperately looking for his thick, high-prescription glasses, which flew off as police shoved him. He said he was then stunned by the blows that followed.

“In philosophy, they call it ‘dehumanization,’ ” Ho said. “So when they think me a dangerous guy, they don’t treat me like I was human. They hit me like an animal or something.”

Well, either Suftin or Ho is going to have to look for a new home. The Vietnamese community in San Jose (and probably elsewhere) is no doubt highly upset about this incident, and in my view, it’s justified. (Welcome to America, people. Now you know how it is for the rest of us.) Nothing like this, to my memory, ever happened to SJSU students. I wasn’t around for Dow Chemical–I’m not that old. And so it’s no wonder that because of incidents like these, cops are distrusted all over.

“It wasn’t done for a malignant reason. It was only done to bring attention to the atrocities of which we were experiencing in a country that was supposed to represent us.”

In a gesture that illustrates powerfully the “actions speak louder than words” mentality, Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fists in solidarity at the Olympic podium after accepting medals for their staggering performances in the 200-meter race. In a powerful display, the two men sought to communicate to the captive Olympic audience that there is unity and pride among the Black community but that there is still racism and poverty in America that, if we are not fighting, we are condoning. The image of the event is perhaps one of the most recognizable and dramatic image of protest in America in the last century. 

The fallout of their actions was great. The Olympic heroes had sacrificed their personal glory in order to make a statement much larger than themselves and there was a price to be paid for it. Critics claimed that the Olympics were an apolitical event and this sort of “Black power” statement was not appropriate for the venue and both men (and their families) received death threats. But if criticism and attention is a gauge for proper protest, Smith and Carlos were successful. Though poverty and racism still exist in America, this image exists in our collective memory to stand in opposition to these societal ills. 

On October 16th, 1968, two African-American athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, raised their fist in a black power salute during the playing of the national anthem at the Olympics. The two had just placed medal times in the 200 meter dash during the Mexico City games. Smith’s record setting sprint brought him gold and Carlos took bronze. As the National Anthem began playing, the pair lowered their heads and raised their fists in what would become an iconic image of the black struggle for equality. As members of the Olympic Project for Human Rights, the athletes also were shoeless to protest black poverty and wore beads to highlight the crime of lynching. For their symbolic protest, Smith and Carlos were promptly banned from the games and expelled from the Olympic Village. The corporate press back in the U.S. had a field day ostracizing the two for their supposed lack of respect. Both Smith and Carlos faced hard times and death threats when they returned home from the games, but the image of resistance they staged lives on, not in infamy, but in annuls of subversive history.

The protest and sacrifice by Smith and Carlos is an instructive example of the courage needed today to deliver on the promise of a “more perfect union.”  We honor and salute Tommie Smith and John Carlos-thou more than heroes- for their heroic action in the service of a better America

7633 Sunkist Drive, Oakland CA  94605-3032 (510) 638-0808,  Fax (510) 638-8889 http://www.Superstarmanagement.com http://www.Ex-Why.com BLOG: http://superstarmanagement.wordpress.com Abdul-Jalil’s Profile Ziggs Profile of Abdul-Jalil Linked In Profile on Abdul-Jalil Abdul-Jalil on Twitter AIM, Video Chat Screen Name:  jalil@superstarmanagement.com Skype Video Chat Screen Contact Name: Superstarmanagement Portrait of Abdul-Jalil by Artist Buford Delaney in Paris, France Articles on Abdul-Jalil: The Man Who Turns Hits Into Million$, One Special Case,  ESPN Bostock 5th & Jackson TV Special Part 1, and Part 2,  ESPN Bostock Magazine Special, the “al-Hakim Tax Code Ruling”, Smart Agent, Busy Agent, Dellums for Mayor, Hip Hop’s Islamic Influence, 1979 National BALSA Conference,  Oakland Police Officers Arrested for Computer Store Burglaries, Police Found Guilty in Burglaries, Police Officers Sentenced for Burglaries, Email Abdul-Jalil here

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On the morning of October 16, 1968, U.S. athlete Tommie Smith won the 200 meter race in a then-world-record time of 19.83 seconds, with Australia’s Peter Norman second with a time of 20.07 seconds, and the U.S.’s John Carlos in third place with a time of 20.10 seconds. After the race was completed, the three went to collect their medals at the podium. The two U.S. athletes received their medals shoeless, but wearing black socks, to represent black poverty. Smith wore a black scarf around his neck to represent black pride. Carlos had his tracksuit top unzipped to show solidarity with all blue collar workers in the U.S. and wore a necklace of beads which he described “were for those individuals that were lynched, or killed and that no-one said a prayer for, that were hung and tarred. It was for those thrown off the side of the boats in the middle passage.”

To view the remainder of this feature, purchase your copy of “D’s 2-cents.”  Send your request to damonduncan7@yahoo.com .

Building a New Left for a New Era

Socialism 2009

Chicago – June 18-21

San Francisco – July 2-5

A weekend of revolutionary politics, debate, and entertainment

Register Online Today!

Basic early bird registration is just $75 before May 1.  We know times are tight, but if you can register at a solidarity level of $150, $300 or $500, your contribution will help assure the biggest audience possible for putting radical ideas into action.  Also, please consider making a contribution to the Scholarship Fund which will help cash-strapped workers and students attend.  So, drop what you’re doing and go to: 

http://www.socialismconference.org/

Why Socialism 2009?

The world economic crisis has shattered the free-market consensus that has dominated politics for the last generation. Meanwhile, the end of the conservative era and the election of the first African-American president have raised expectations among working people that long overdue change is at hand. With capitalism in crisis, even some in the corporate media are admitting that Karl Marx was right.

There has never been a better time for those who want see fundamental change to get together to debate, discuss and organize for a new society based on the needs of the many instead of on the whims of a few. In other words, there has never been a better time to organize a new socialist left to meet the challenge of this new era.

That’s the purpose that Socialism 2009—expanded to two sites this year—has set for itself. Gather with activists and scholars from all over to take part in dozens of discussions about changing the world: How can we stop the economic madness? How can we end racism? What kind of organization do we need? What would a future socialist society look like?

Yes we can organize for socialism in the 21st century!

Join Robert Brenner, Dennis Brutus, Anuradha Mittal, Dahr Jamail, David Zirin, Heather Rogers, Claudio Katz, Laura Flanders, Ahmed Shawki, Sherry Wolf, Sharon Smith, Paul LeBlanc, Anthony Arnove, Leo Zeilig, Alan Maass, Christian Parenti,  Marlene Martin, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, James Green, Paul D’Amato, Jennifer Roesch, Ashley Smith, Lance Selfa, Michael Klare, Brian Jones, John Riddell, Joel Geier, Justin Akers-Chacón, Ian Angus, Adrienne Johnson, Sarah Knopp, Jesse Hagopian, Todd Chretien, Dr. Jess Ghannam and more!  Check back at 

http://www.socialismconference.org/

 for an updated list of speakers. 

“The young people at the conference took me back in time to when you were ready to stand for what was right. It lets you know that what you may have planted years ago will come to reality today. I feel great to have become a part of it.” –Dr. John Carlos, 1968 Olympic bronze medalist who raised the Black Power salute

“Socialism conferences are exciting gathering places for students and young activists, for revolutionary scholars, and fighters for social justice to share ideas and experiences that can help us understand and change the world. I’ve been to a couple – it’s not enough. I’m coming again.” –Paul LeBlanc, scholar and activist

http://www.socialismconference.org/

Sponsored by Center for Economic Research and Social Change, publisher of International Socialist Review and Haymarket Books, and the International Socialist Organization, publisher of Socialist Worker and Obrero Socialista newspapers.

For more information and to register, go to: , or call (773) 583-7884.

http://www.socialismconference.org/

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

http://www.socialismconference.org/

John Carlos, Director of Business Affairs for a company called Energy Solutions Engineering Group.

* John Carlos, is the Liaison of the United States Green Building Council (USGBC).  John Carlos sits on the USGBC/Schools Committee.

* John Carlos represents power plant and facility Engineers of some of the largest buildings in the Detroit Metro area through the South Eastern Michigan Power Plant Engineer’s Society (SEMPPES).  For the passed two years, John has performed as the outside representative and Liaison for a large group of power plant and facility engineers, assisting and introducing the group of engineers to various opportunities.

* John Carlos sits on the Affiliate Council for the Engineer’s Society of Detroit (ESD). For several years John has paticipated in the Future City Projects, donating his time as an event Judge and as a generouse sponsor.

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet”
- William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, 2.2

No offense to Shakespeare, but I don’t think he ever studied public relations or the value of brand identity.  Nor do I think he had to watch the “G” ads.  These black and white TV commercials scroll past athletes and pop cultural icons by the likes of Misty May-Treanor, Kerri Walsh, Muhammad Ali, Derek Jeter, the JabbaWockeeZ, Tommie Smith, John Carlos, Michael Jordan and Peyton Manning while an announcer answers the question, “What is G?”  “G” is of course “gifted,” “glorious” and “golden.” Duh.

I am sure that you have all guessed correctly that these commercials clearly refer to Gatorade.  What else could “gifted,” “glorious” and “golden” mean?  And if that wasn’t enough, I know all of America is up-to-date on its pop culture and American history.  The JabbaWockeez won MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew, and Tommie Smith and John Carlos are infamous for their salutes protesting racial inequality during the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City.  And if anything is going to fuel consumption of a sports drink after exhausting physical activity, it is these figures.

In my personal opinion, Gatorade wasted its money on these ads.  In no way does this commercial reflect the hydrating, vitamin-filled, flavorful qualities that we have come to identify with the blue-sweating, turbo jet running athletes in its past commercials.  And I’m not alone in this line of thinking.  John Swansburg wrote in his blog post on Slate, “It’s as if Gatorade execs had thrown everything they’d read was cool these days into a pot and stirred. Viral campaign: check. Hip-hop dance crew: check. Lil Wayne: check. Barack Obama: check.” 

Gatorade is a sports drink and its main consumer is athletes.  So how do pictures of Obama in a suit or dancers in masks inspire heart pounding activity after which Gatorade is necessary?  It doesn’t.  Now, I’m not saying its older commercials such as, telling consumers about its conception at the University of Florida or showing athletes performing rigorous activity, were breathtakingly original.  But at least we knew what they were when they aired.  What is ‘G’?

My friend, Sam, just summed it up like this, “It actually discouraged me from getting Gatorade, because I didn’t want to get anything with just a ‘G’ on it.  I didn’t know what it was.  So I just got one of the old bottles of Gatorade….But for real are the ‘G’ bottles special Gatorade or normal Gatorade?”

-Jarrett Cocharo

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/football/cowboys/stories/013009dnspocowlede.3289c20.html

At the Mexico Olympics in 1968, this photograph of American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos standing on the victory podium with heads bowed and black-gloved fists raised in a Black Power salute in protest at racism in the USA, became the iconic image of the age.

In the fraught years since 1968, the weight of living through the aftermath put a heavy burden on the friendship of Carlos and Smith. In separate interviews with the Los Angeles Times it was revealed that they have barely spoken to each other since the early 1990s, despite living just a short drive apart in southern California. Smith described their relationship as “strained”. Carlos would call his former team-mate only “Mister Smith”.

Recalling the Olympics, Carlos said:

“When we arrived at the award stand there was a lot of applause. When we left there were many boos and thumbs down. Well, John Carlos and Tommie Smith want the people who booed to know that black people are not lower animals like roaches and rats. … We’re not like some sort of a show horse who does its job and then had some peanuts tossed at it. We’d like to tell all white people that if they don’t care for things black people do, they should not go see black people perform.”

Smith was equally bitter:

“It is very discouraging to be in a team with white athletes. On the track you are Tommie Smith, the fastest man in the world, but once you are in the dressing rooms you are nothing more than a dirty Negro.”

Over the years, they paid the price. Smith was discharged from army service as a result of his ‘un-American activities’. Two brothers of John Carlos were also sent home from battle. They never represented the USA again.

(Less well-known is the fact that Peter Norman, the white Australian athlete on the podium with them, expressed his solidarity by wearing the same ‘Olympic Project for Human Rights’ badge on the podium as Smith and Carlos did. He too was victimised when he got back home to Australia. Despite running the necessary qualifying times, he was excluded from the Australian squad which went to the 1972 Olympics, and he was not invited to take any part in the 2000 Sydney Olympic celebrations by the Australian organisers. Carlos and Smith both went to Norman’s funeral in 2006 and delivered eulogies to the late sprinter, who still holds the Australian record for 200 metres which he set in Mexico.)

From a wonderful history of dissent at the Olympics by Martin Belam

But here, in 2009, are Carlos and Smith at Obama’s inauguration, with their wives, in a hotel room.

(Boston Globe/Stan Grossfeld)

What the election of Obama signifies, the energies it can generate, the solidarities it can create, the transformations that can be effected under its sign, cannot be understood simply in terms of a charismatic man of mixed race becoming President of the most powerful nation today. It is only those who cannot see beyond these mere “facts” who are cynical and mocking, for whatever Obama’s actual record in office will prove to be, we must mark this moment.

It is a moment that every struggle against power and authority anywhere in the world has claimed for itself. Centuries of racism and two decades of Empire later, every edifice of power in every part of the globe has, in one sudden ray of light, revealed its vulnerability. Anything seems possible, not least of all, a Dalit woman Prime Minister of India.

“Obama” is bigger than the man.

Many of you know this story, but it  has always struck me as one of the largest displays of injustice in the history of our country. These men truly stood for something more than themselves or the ideology of a nation. At the Mexico City Games in 1968, two black American sprinters stood on the medal podium with heads bowed and fists raised—a symbol of black power. Teammates Tommie Smith and John Carlos had secretly planned a non-violent protest to bring attention to the injustices faced by black Americans should they medal in the 200-meter race.  Which they did, with Smith capturing gold and Carlos bronze. But at the time, the athletes encountered such outrage that they were stripped of their medals, suspended from their national team and banned from the Olympic village. The athletes and their families also received numerous death threats. I have heard terms such as patriot or freedom used sparingly in our culture, unfortunately many individuals have no idea what they truly mean…..

40 years after their silent protest at the 1968 Olympics, Gold Medalist Tommie Smith hugs Bronze Medalist John Carlos, and their wives Delois Smith and Charlene Carlos after Barack Obama is officially sworn in as the President of the United States. Photo taken in the Smith room at the Sheraton Boston in Boston, MA. (Boston Globe/Stan Grossfeld)

My respect for not only our new President, but for those who cleared the path.

Photograph of Tommie Smith & John Carlos at the Olympics in Mexico 68′, please forgive me for not crediting the photographer

A protest which sent shockwaves across the United States, protest against second-class citizenship of African Americans, protest for the voiceless dead in the middle passage, protest representing blue collar workers, protest for freedom of speech.
Goosebumps when I look and warmth in the knowing that Smith & Carlos exist, always existed, always will, Gives me hope that people will be able to look up history books for heroes and be able to find them.

Bruce Knight, owner of Troy 16 Properties, and John Carlos, director of business development at Energy Solutions Engineering Group.

BY SVEN GUSTAFSON 
sveng@mbusinessreview.com

A Ferndale company that helps lower energy consumption in commercial properties is touting its ability to provide points toward green building certification and expanding a lease program to try and boost business.  Energy Solutions Engineering Group typically offers its turnkey energy efficiency services to buildings with a monthly electricity bill of $7,000.00/per month and up, said John Carlos, director of business development. The company, a member of the U.S. Green Building Council, started operating in the Detroit market in October 2006. more

Today I dragged my mum, sister, niece and nephew along to San Jose University to see Rigo 23’s statue of two former students. The statue portrays Tommie Smith and John Carlos’ civil rights protest at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico. What did these two men do? Oh, apart from win Gold and Bronze medals in the 200m? They removed their shoes and raised black-gloved fists, heads bowed, in a dignified and silent protest on behalf of the Olympic Project for Human Rights. That’s all. For this, they were expelled from the games.

The man behind their expulsion was Avery Brundage, the IOC president; a man who in 1936, as President of the United States Olympic Committee, saw nothing wrong in the Nazi salutes on display at the Berlin Olympics. Oh, he also thought the Olympics was no place for women. As far as every great and inspirational story has obstacles and, bluntly, baddies, they don’t come much badder than Avery.

Tigerlily Films made a documentary for BBC4 called Black Power Salute. The director, Geoff Small, talks about it here. Please read it. You’ll like it. It’ll take you a couple of minutes; roughly 6 times the time it took Tommie and John to change the world.

The silver medal was won by Peter Norman; a white Australian. As an opponent of Australian policies specifically designed to restrict non-white immigration (and as a decent human being), Peter wanted to do his bit at the medal ceremony to show support for OPHR’s stand against racial segregation and racism in general. Maybe to the surprise of Tommie and John, he borrowed an OPHR badge from Paul Hoffman, a (white) member of the US rowing team. He wore a badge, that’s all. And for this he too was punished.

“While he didn’t raise a fist, he did lend a hand.” Tommie Smith.

Peter Norman is missing from the sculpture. Some, it seems, have been offended by this. They shouldn’t be. Peter attended the unveiling, and when he died in 2006 both Tommie and John were pallbearers at his funeral. John Carlos said, “Peter was a piece of my life… I was his brother. He was my brother. That’s all you have to know.”

And the sculpture acknowledges Peter’s contribution in the most moving of ways. In his place is the inscription; “Fellow athlete Australian Peter Norman stood here in solidarity. Take a stand.”

We can all be Peter Normans. Stand amongst giants. Lend a hand. Take a stand.

No Obamamania for Brandon Marshall

By: Dave Zirin

All Brandon Marshall wanted was the opportunity to be part of the moment. The Denver Broncos wide receiver wanted to feel connected to the thousands who have flooded into the streets and the millions in a state of shock and awe around the world, celebrating the election of Barack Obama. [...]

Unfortunately, we will never know what would have happened, or how the crowd would have reacted. We will never have that image of a football player bringing politics to the field. Marshall did score a touchdown, but as he removed the glove from his pocket, his teammates stopped him.

The problem was that Marshall’s touchdown came with only one minute and twenty-two seconds left to play, putting the Broncos ahead, 34-30. His teammates–particularly fellow wideout Brandon Stokley and tight end Tony Scheffler–saw what he was about to do and stopped him, fearful of an automatic fifteen-yard penalty for “unsportsmanlike conduct.”

One can be charitable toward Stokley and Sheffler, given the moment in the game–although the image of two white players surrounding a black player to block his political statement is the antithesis of the very ideas Marshall was attempting to communicate [...]

More At Your Black Sports

G. Larry James, a middle-distance runner known as “The Mighty Burner” who employed his streaky speed to win gold and silver medals in track at the 1968 Summer Olympics, died of colon cancer at his home in Smithville, N.J., on Thursday, his 61st birthday.

James won his gold medal in Mexico City by teaming with Vince Matthews, Ron Freeman and Lee Evans in the U.S. 4-by-400-meter relay. He also won a silver medal in the 400-meter individual race.

But the issue came to a head after U.S. sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos won gold and bronze, respectively, in the 200-meter race.

At the medals ceremony, while “The Star-Spangled Banner” played, Smith and Carlos stood on the podium and raised their gloved fists in a Black Power salute.

The athletes were booed, and the International Olympic Committee insisted they be expelled for making a political statement during the Games.

Two days later came the 400-meter race. The U.S. runners swept the event, with James taking silver in 43.97 seconds, second to Evans’ world-record time of 43.86. Freeman was third.

All three men recorded their best times ever, and James and Evans were the first to break the 44-second mark.

“When we had the press conference after the race, all anybody wanted to ask about was Tommie and John,” James told the Star-Ledger. “I was thinking, ‘Doesn’t anyone want to talk about what we just did?’ “

Next up was the 4-by-400-meter relay, held two days later. This time the U.S. runners set a world record in 2 minutes, 56.16 seconds, with James running the third leg.

The winning time was matched in 1988, but the record remained unbroken until 1992.

For their medals ceremony, the relay runners chose to wear black berets and black socks, but when the national anthem played, they removed their caps and stood at attention.

“We were agents of change, but . . . we were so unprepared,” he said. “We were suddenly expert on everything, man, on toothpaste. You get caught up in it, the love affair the public has with athletes. You learn how it embraces you, and then you learn how it tires of you.”

James returned to Villanova, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in business in 1970. He served in the Marine Corps Reserve, attaining the rank of major, and later earned a master’s degree in public policy from Rutgers University.

He was hired as track coach and assistant athletic director at Stockton College in 1972. He used to tell people he had planned to stay for three years, but they stretched into 36.

James became athletic director in 1980 and transformed the athletic program into a Division III power, the highlight coming when the men’s soccer team won the Division III national championship in 2001. He also led efforts to build a $17-million multipurpose recreation center in 2000. He stepped down as athletic director Aug. 1.

James stayed involved in the Olympic movement over the years and held a variety of positions with USA Track and Field. In 2003 he was inducted into the National Track & Field Hall of Fame.

George Lawrence James was 15 when his mother, Martha, took him to Washington, D.C., in August 1963 for the March on Washington at which King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech.

“I realized there was more to life than just me and my neighborhood,” James told the Journal News of Westchester County, N.Y., in 2004. “There was a whole world of people that wanted to make a difference.”

After scoring the winning touchdown in Denver’s in at Cleveland on Thursday night, Broncos wide receiver Brandon Marshall pulled a black and white glove from his pants.

From the Associated Press:

He was about to put it on and raise his fist in the style of Tommie Smith and John Carlos, who made controversial black power salutes at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.

Slot receiver Brandon Stokley rushed to him in the back of the end zone and persuaded him to nix the salute because the Broncos couldn’t afford a 15-yard celebration penalty at that moment.

“That’s what a good, old veteran is for,” Marshall said.

After the game, Marshall, who is black, read a statement he wrote about how inspired he was by Obama becoming the first black man elected to the nation’s highest office.

“Barak Obama’s election as the 44th president of the United States is a tremendous symbol of unity,” Marshall said. “I want to create that symbol of unity because Obama inspires me (and) a multicultural society, and I know at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico, Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised that black glove and fist in a silent gesture of black power and liberation.