I was reading about James Cleveland Owens (J C Owens or Jessie Owens) in this month's issue of Runner's world. Lots of interesting stuff that you can google on the web., but here is the part that caught my attention.
The 1936 Olympics in Berlin was supposedly Hitler's hope for showcasing the superiority of the Aryan race. Ofcourse as we now know it Owens won 4 gold medals- 100m sprint, the long jump (a nice story here of how Lutz Long his adversary from German helped him with advice), 200m dash and 4x100m relay team of which he was a part of. Supposedly Hitler snubbed the black atheletes by walking away and not shaking hands with them.
Later in an interview with Jesse his reply to whether he felt snubbed by Hitler- his reply amounts to something like "I was snubbed by our President who didn't acknowledge victory with a congratulatory telegram".
Also here is a recollection of his from wikipedia-
Owens was cheered enthusiastically by 110,000 people in Berlin's Olympic Stadium and later ordinary Germans sought his autograph when they saw him in the streets. Owens was allowed to travel with and stay in the same hotels as whites, an irony at the time given that Negroes in the United States were denied equal rights. After a New York ticker-tape parade in his honor, Owens had to ride the freight elevator to attend a reception for him at the Waldorf-Astoria. He later recounted:[5]
| “ | When I came back to my native country, after all the stories about Hitler, I couldn't ride in the front of the bus. I had to go to the back door. I couldn't live where I wanted. I wasn't invited to shake hands with Hitler, but I wasn't invited to the White House to shake hands with the President, either. |
Posts
5 comments:
Interesting history.
I always wonder what are the things we will be ashamed of in next few generations.
I think you have to be an ultra liberal to with stand 2-3 generations. But then, this generation will not allow you!
That was an excellent post. For all the things that USA preaches to the world, it would serve them good, if they took a look at themselves, and how they progressed into the society they are now.
Another thing they might want to consider to see whether all societies WANT to get to where the US is now.
Good one... And on top of it, these folks have the guts to "celebrate" black history month now...I dont know what kind of history they cherish that needs to be celebrated... Probably, the black in black history month symbolises the sorrowful state that blacks were put through...
If you already do not know, feb 2007 is supposed to be the black history month...
SIGH !! Coming from the most racist country ( in my opinion),all I can do is sigh. Atleast,I am happy to note that US is better off now. Ofcourse, except for a few slurs like Macaca here and there.Dalits are treated even worse in India till today. In some rural areas, women are treated equally bad too...
Yes, it's really sad to note that our country is equally very racist. Although people keep talking about things are improving, somehow it seems to have seeped into society at every level.
Agree with Saumya, it's high time this country ( and ours for that matter) look back on how they have pulled along all those terrible times of discrimination. Sadly, those decades of oppression is deep rooted in those folks even now.
Post a Comment