Tommie Smith Says He Still Receives Death Threats over 1968 Olympics Protest

Dr. Tommie Smith told Turner Sports' Ernie Johnson on #NBATogether that he still receives death threats 52 years after he and John Carlos' human rights salute during the 200-meter medal ceremony at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.

Johnson asked Smith how people viewed him and about the difficulties he endured when he came back home following the Games.  

"I still receive death threats," the former assistant professor of physical education at Oberlin College told Johnson.

"Hold it, hold it," Johnson replied. "Dr. Smith, really?"

"Oh yes, that's very easy for me to say because I'm the one that read the letters; I'm the one that answered the phone; I'm the one that was on the streets," Smith said.

"Yes, yes. I don't lie, I just tell the truth like it is and move on and do the best I can to be honest with everybody."

Smith then mentioned that his wife tried to report the death threats to police:

"My wife, when I was in Mexico, received death threats while I was gone, while I was in Mexico City. The police station, even, [she told them] what she was going through, they laughed her right out of the station."

Smith then added that he received hate mail as recently as two months ago about his 1968 protest.

Smith, who called his protest a "cry for freedom," won gold despite racing with a pulled groin. He and Carlos, who won bronze, raised their fists covered in black gloves during the medal ceremony. They also took the podium with black socks and no shoes to represent Black poverty in the United States. Smith, Carlos and Australian silver medalist Peter Norman wore human rights badges on their jackets as well.

"We had to be seen because we couldn't be heard," Smith said.