It’s startling - wounding, even - to hear the boos that rained down as the two medalists walked off the field on Oct. The pose is quietly defiant - but also brims with grace. Their bowed heads speak eloquently of the solemnity of the moment. Smith’s black-gloved hand and right arm are raised Carlos’s gloved hand and left arm are raised, creating, as Smith recounts, an arch - a bridge between the two men but also the roiling world of that era. There is sculptural beauty in that still life of Black protest. It’s easy to see why the artist was taken with the image. As an artist and the co-director of “ With Drawn Arms” - streaming now - Kaino took that memory, sought Smith out and began a collaboration that led to a 2018 art exhibit and to this moving and relevant documentary. But that’s how iconic the image of the two track-and-field stars had become. Not that he saw “the salute” live he wasn’t yet born. As a Japanese-American kid growing up in Los Angeles, Glenn Kaino was drawn to the image of Tommie Smith and John Carlos standing with arms raised on the podium of the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, during the medal presentation for the 200-meter dash.
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