Reaction From Fans, Readers

(T&FN, December 1967)

THOMAS WALSKI, Plains, Pennsylvania: "Who do Tommie Smith and Lee Evans think they're fooling by boycotting the Olympics? How idiotic can you get? Negroes are better off today in the US than any of their ancestors were in Africa or America. They have come this far not through Black Power or boycotts but because many of them have worked hard in both business and athletics to gain their high place in their community. Instead of taking a course in black leadership, Tommie should have taken a course in Logic and then they would realize how little he has to complain about. Most of this so-called discrimination is really a figment of some Negro's imagination. There seems to be no logical reason for the Negroes to boycott the Olympics except that maybe the Negroes don't want to be equal but superior."

TED GRAYES, Memphis, Tennessee: "I was very pleased and proud of the statements attributed to Charlie Greene, Ralph Boston, Rafer Johnson and Jesse Owens in which they stated that they were for Negro participation. Their words express my feelings concisely. They said they were Americans first and, among other things, that there is no place in athletics for petty politics. The Olympics has always been fair to the Negro.

“Tommie Smith and other sophomoric athletes who would go ahead with the boycott are ill-advised if they think they are helping the Negro. I don't care to be represented in Mexico by their ilk anymore than by a Greek-American who is a Greek first and American second. I'll take Cliff Cushman back for the whole lot of them. In closing, I suggest that Smith and his crew go to Russia or to any other 'people's paradise' to learn how they can be political pawns in athletics."

JEFF JOHNSON, Wellesley, Massachusetts: "Not many sports-oriented magazines have the staff talent and/or empathy necessary to expand beyond statistics and results into the relation between athletics and human problems. It's a pleasant surprise to find something like your Smith-Evans interview in T&FN.

TAD DOBBS, Tokyo, Japan: "Upon reading your interview conducted with Tommie Smith and Lee Evans I could not help but feel that quite a few of their answers were either vague or they spoke in generalities. Just what is their gripe?… Both athletes mention the case of Paul Nash of South Africa being allowed to compete in the US while colored athletes are not allowed to compete there. Must Mr. Nash be made to suffer as a result of his country's policies? I see he didn't mind competing against Negro athletes in the US, and I'll bet he made several friends among them since he had the opportunity to do so. If we discriminate against such athletes as Mr. Nash then we are as backward as South Africa. Isn't this the exact thing these two are fighting to eliminate?

“The Olympic Games are intended solely for the purpose of judging the performances of an individual. Let's stop using them for political gimmicks and race bitches and gripes. It is my understanding that such Games are intended to foster peaceful co-existence.”