December 1967: Dear Tommie

Dear Tommie

(Track & Field News, December 1967)

by Bert Nelson, publisher

(An open letter to Tommie Smith, with copies to Lee Evans and to all the other Negro athletes who have been asked to boycott the Olympic Games.)

Dear Tommie,

Don't do it. Don't boycott the Olympics.

I'm making this request not because I disagree either with your objective or your right to do as you please, because I do agree. Nor is it because I feel you owe it to yourself, your school, the sport, your country, and your, race to compete, because such loyalties are for you to decide. I act, rather, out of fear you will do irreparable harm to yourself--and to your race.

Every man has the right--and the obligatio--to make his own decisions. And his own mistakes. But he does not have the right to make mistakes that will harm others.

And that is what worries ms about this boycott business, Tommie. I think it would hurt the Negro more than it would help.

I know you are aware your entire future could be damaged. You are willing to make that sacrifice in order to help black people attain what is right fully yours. I greatly admire such willingness.

The question, though, is not whether Tommie Smith would be hurt by boycotting the Olympics, but if a boycott would help or harm the Negro--or do neither. If substantial good came from a boycott your sacrifice would be worthwhile. But if no good comes you would have wasted your sacrifice tragically. And if the boycott produced harm the tragedy would be far greater.

Unfortunately, no one can be certain of the ultimate reaction to a boycott’s cost. You are dealing with a highly emotional subject and one that could be explosive. Predicting the result is very difficult, yet you must be sure before you act as it is not just you who is involved.

That is your dilemma, Tommie, and I don't envy you. But I do admire and respect you as an athlete and as a man. And I am deeply concerned with the Negroes' right to equality. So perhaps you will find my opinions of some help making up your mind.

We can't escape our difference in color. It is impossible for me to join how you feel. I can try to understand the problem but I can't feel it as you do. On the other hand, I doubt if you are fully aware of the feelings of whitey. Yet you must try very hard to anticipate his reactions to your proposed boycott because the result depends on the white man, not the black.

It is unfair and frustrating, but the progress of Negroes toward deserved equality depends solely on the whites. Blacks can influence whites, for good or bad, but whites make the final decisions. You are outnumbered 8–1 in population, and by much greater odds in terms of political power, position, money, and voting influence. As galling as it must be to you, Negro progress comes only when white men allow it.

I feel you must have a strong desire to express a solidarity with all black men, to show that those of you who have made it better than most blacks have not forgotten your brothers in the ghetto. No doubt you would give hope and courage to your race by your sacrifice.

But can you favorably influence the white man? I don't think so. If white hearts and minds have not been moved by now by the all-too-obvious need for change they will not be moved by a few Negro athletes boycotting an event held once every four years thousands of miles from home. Boycott talk attracts great attention, but so far most of the press is more interested in taking sides than in presenting your views. As a public forum for your beliefs the boycott must be regarded pretty much of a failure.

Besides, the reasoning white man--and there are more of us than you may think--already admits to the crying need for action. That leaves the nonreasoning white man to deal with. And it is here you run into trouble, for he acts out of prejudice and fear and ignorance. He reacts emotionally instead of acting with reason.

And I am much afraid the non-reasoning white man--and there are more of them than I like to admit--will react negatively to your boycott. It is happening right now. Most of the white people whose views I have heard--personally by letter, on television and radio, or in the press--resent the boycott. Many, their warped thinking, consequently resent you and the entire black race. It is ridiculous and stupid, to be sure. But backlash is a fact of life you must face, If this is the reaction to the proposal of a few athletes, think how much greater the adverse reaction would be to an actual boycott, even by a few athletes, let alone by a majority of Negroes.

Always in politics you must not waste your effort on your supporters.

They are for you already. Your effort has to be in winning over the other side. And in this case the other side, ill have judged it rightly, is reacting unfavorably to your actions. Thus you are gaining no new supporters. But you are pushing some of those you most need deeper into the arms of prejudice and bigotry.

I can't be sure, of course, but I believe your boycott threat already has do more harm than good to the Negro. And if a boycott does come off I believe the harm will be substantial.

If I'm right, where does that leave you? Do I have a solution to an intolerable situation? Not really. But I do think you can do yourself and all black people more good by competing than by not competing. You and countless other Negro athletes, in track and the pro sports, have earned the respect and admiration of millions of whites. They have been made to see, to some degree at least, the correctness of your demand for equality. No one will ever know, but I suspect much of the real progress made in recent years has been made possible by the impact of the Negro athlete. By continuing to excel in athletics you continue to prove you are as good as the white man, if not better. And you create opportunities to be heard, individually and as a group.

As a boycotter you would be judged by too many to be a disgruntled dissident who turned your beck on your sport and your country. As an Olympic hero you would have a chance to exert influence on both white and black. By employing recognized public relations techniques you (and your fellow Negro stars) would contribute much by telling your story. And remember, only when white men know your story and are moved by it do you get results.

Meanwhile, you would need a great deal of patience. True, it is easy for me to counsel patience when I am not the one who is suffering. But if extremism, as many regard the boycott, produces only negative results the sole hope of the black man is for a stepped-up campaign to educate the white man. This course is too slow, terribly frustrating, and most unfair. Equality should be today, not tomorrow. But reality says otherwise, so the only possible course is to control your frustration and impatience while doing everything constructive, and nothing destructive to better the plight of the Negro.

You may not be ready or willing to accept my views, Tommie, but at least use them as a starting point for another look at the probable results of your actions. If in doubt, don't boycott. The possible loss is far greater than the possible gain and the consequences could be very serious to all blacks. You owe it to yourself and to your race to be very certain you know what you are doing. And to know you are not taking chances with the future of others.