This Election Is 1968 All Over Again, And That's Not A Good Thing

WASHINGTON -- It was the spring of a presidential election year, but there was no sense of hope and renewal in the land.

Instead, the United States was in the grip of tribalism and seething fear. Voters were energized by anger and resentment. The media ran red with violent language; surging crowds, cops and protesters filled city streets.

The main candidates were: a shopworn Democratic front-runner who embodied the party establishment; a white-haired, professorial anti-war protest candidate beloved by college students; a disruptive, race-baiting outsider with a knack for drawing press attention and an unctuous, beady-eyed Republican lawyer practicing dirty tricks.

John Carlos, 1968 Olympic U.S. Medalist, on the Revolutionary Sports Moment That Changed The World

Almost half a century after his famous raised-fist salute at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, John Carlos has authored a new memoir with sports writer Dave Zirin, "The John Carlos Story: The Sports Moment That Changed the World." Olympic medal winners in the 200 meter race, John Carlos and Tommie Smith raised their fists in the Black Power salute during the national anthem at the Olympic prize ceremony as a protest against racism in the United States. Seen around the world, the Black Power salute on the Olympic medal stand sparked controversy and an eventual career fallout. "I wasn’t there for the race, I was there to make a statement," Carlos says. "I was ashamed of America for America’s deeds — what they were doing in history as well as what they were doing at that time.”

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Source: Democracy Now!