There’s a lot of hype about living your purpose / passion leading to “happily ever after”. Not necessarily.
Some of our most honored leaders – secular and spiritual – paid the ultimate price for living their purpose: they were assassinated. Gandhi (Mahatma and Indira), President Kennedy, Shinzo Abe, Martin Luther King, Birendra, Yitzhak Rabin, Bobby Kennedy, Mia Manuelita Mascarinas-Green, Nicolae Ceausescu, Anwar Sadat…. While these are internationally known figures, many “everyday people” have also suffered negative consequences for staying true to their values to living their purpose.
Often, with enough time, the persecuted become heroes. John Carlos is an example of this dynamic. The iconic image of his statement for equality of Olympic athletes in Mexico City in 1968 led to his persecution and exclusion from success on all levels for decades. Now he is often celebrated, and the image is re-created in larger than life sculptures in several locations, including the African American Museum in Washington, DC. And San Jose State University.
REFLECT:
Do you know any one personally who has been persecuted for living their purpose / passion / beliefs?
Have you had negative consequences for being true to your values – by family, friends, co-workers, church, community?
Carlos was raised in a stable nuclear home in Harlem – a rarity for that area. His purpose was to become an Olympic swimmer. But there were no pools for practice In Harlem, and he wasn’t allowed in white pools. So he turned to boxing. A trauma nurse, his mother knew the risks and forbad him to box. His migration to track was serendipitous.
After watching the movie Robin Hood (starring Erroll Flynn), he decided to assume that persona in the “hood”. He crossed the bridge to investigate the contents of parked box cars on the railroad tracks and found 50 pound boxes of food. Leading his “crew”, he went on nightly raids to steal food and deliver it back to his neighbors. While his crew each carried one box, he carried one box on each shoulder. And they consistently outran the police.
“The only time I became aware of my ability was when the police told me I had talent”, Carlos said. After been caught and “slapped around the head” by two African American officers when he was fifteen, Carlos was scared straight. Given the chance to train at the New York Pioneer Club, he joined their track team and proved his ability, then ran the 100 meter dash for his school team. His record-setting wins across the region led to lots of interest from prestigious colleges for athletic scholarships, but his lousy academic records together with being married with a young child ended that interest. He ended up at East Texas State U, and entered the “white” and “colored” world of Southern racism. In an ongoing refusal to be exploited, he rebelled regularly.
Returning to New York, he met Dr Harry Edwards, the lead organizer for the idea of an African American boycott to the 1968 Olympics in Mexico to protest the unequal treatment of black athletes. This gave Carlos a cause, and he became active in the Olympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR).
Because he was linked with the proposed boycott, qualifying for the Olympic team was physically easy, but politically challenging. He was opposed by many black athletes and leaders, and discriminated against by the US Olympic Committee (USOC) — that disqualified him in two events – even after he broke the records. Carlos qualified in a different distance – the 200 meters – competing alongside Tommy Smith. Since the boycott had not garnered enough support to happen, it was replaced with the thought of a symbolic act. He and Smith agreed they would be on the winning podium together, and they would wear (1) black gloves to represent strength and unity and (2) beads to represent the history of lynching.
As the anthem began and the crowd saw us raise our fists, the stadium became eerily quiet… Then, as the anthem played in full force, the calm before the storm ended, and the boos starting coming down… I didn’t know or appreciate at that precise moment that the entire trajectory of our young lives had just irrevocably changed.
They were ousted from the Olympic Village, humiliated by the the press, and miscast as revolutionaries and communists. While the global press was giving them credit for courage, the US press branded them an embarrassment and disgrace.
With no residuals from books, posters, and paraphernalia about the event, Carlos had no way to support his wife and two children. During one cold winter, Carlos chopped up the furniture for firewood to heat their place. He switched to football and spent a year and a half playing for the NFL – and still limps from the leg injury. But he was able to get on with the Montreal Alouettes and gain Canadian citizenship, ensuring his family had medical care.
From there, Puma hired him as a representative at the Munich Olympics, site of the Israeli athletes massacre, In addition, a German newspaper ran a story on him titled, “This is the Man Who Can Wreck the Olympic Games”. The accumulated stress on Kim, his wife and family breadwinner, led to an ugly divorce and her suicide two years later. He sank into depression and addiction. In a program for low-income and underprivileged, he got a temporary job as a groundskeeper at the San Pedro park in Los Angeles. Miraculously, Rosie Grier recognized him pulling weeks — and connected him Mayor Bradley, who got him a job in community relations. With those connections, he founded The John Carlos Youth Development League to mentor kids.
When the Olympics were to be held in LA in 1984, he reached out to have his kids facilitate programs for local youth. Instead, he was offered a job with the Olympics Committee. After that, he want to Palm Springs High School as a guidance counselor until his retirement.
Does he regret it?
You only regret something if you’re wrong. The fact that you take an ass-whipping and you know that in your heart you were right, you just take it and keep on stepping. I accepted the consequences because I believed that I was doing the right thing. My first wife Kim took her life as a result of what was going on and that’s the only regret that I have. But the act was far greater than my life or hers.
APPLY:
Consider taking an action this week to demonstrate your values and beliefs.
What would support your doing it?
What would prohibit your doing it?
The John Carlos Story, John Carlos, Haymarket Books, 2011.
