The Stand: How One Gesture Shook The World is an interesting piece of American history. It’s a story we all “kind of know,” but really never knew the details. The image of the two “black fists in the air” is iconic, with media, pop culture, and products all using that symbol at one point in time. But what we don’t know is what Smith and Carlos had to endure after the competition. They were suspended from the Olympics by the racist chairman of the Olympic committee, Avery Brundage. He even threatened the American team saying that if Carlos and Smith were not kicked off the squad, the whole team would be disqualified.
When the two men returned to the United States, they were treated worse than the soldiers returning from Vietnam. The media shamed them, their lives were in danger, and the demonstration they made wasn’t appreciated fully till years later. The USA had a lot of dirty laundry that it wanted to hide from the world.
“…worth investing that hour of your time to see how far we’ve come, yet how far we still have to go in this country.”
Obviously, this documentary is relevant to what’s happening in sports and politics today. When you look at men like Colin Kaepernick and other players in the NFL that have “taken a knee” to protest police murdering unarmed Black people, that spirit of peaceful protesting is alive and well, and is sadly still needed in 2020.
With a run-time of only 69 minutes, The Stand: How One Gesture Shook The World is a pertinent history lesson for ALL people, American and otherwise. It’s worth investing that hour of your time to see how far we’ve come, yet how far we still have to go in this country.
"…a pertinent history lesson for ALL people..."
