'The Salute' Finally Available On VOD & DVD In USA & UK (Revisiting 1968 Mexico City Olympics)

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• Africameleon | August 8, 2012 2:56 PMReply

  @ "BLACKPOWER" - I stand by my comment, which is well informed and NOT "uneducated." It is an act of placing the "white guy's" - the documentarian's phrasing, not mine" - narrative into the history of that moment. Actually, there was an HBO documentary on the 1968 Olympic games that also included a segment about Norman. Yes we should acknowledge Norman who stood on the podium beside Smith and Carlos... he was the silver medalist... and he wore a button in support and gave away his medal. If the film acknowledges other things he did then ok. However, he did not have the same things at stake as the black sprinters. If he suffered backlash, it was not as severe as Smith and Carlos because he was still a white man (working class or not) in Australia, a country that continues to discriminate against their own native born blacks (the Aborigines). My point is, don't take the issue of state sponsored violence and institutional discrimination against black people (and black resistance to that treatment) out of the "center" of the picture. I am all for taking the "gloss" out of this moment and all docs don't have to be about racism or the "oppressor," but the risk the White Australian took was not the same as the risk taken by the black athletes. He had white privilege in his home country so let's get that full picture as well. If the film does that and shows how he made an impact at home and in his life as an anti-racist then I definitely applaud him and his nephew for making this film. I'm BLACK, I'm PROUD... but I'm opposed to inserting everyone into narratives of black suffering and resistance.

• Blackpower | August 6, 2012 11:27 PMReply

  The above comment comes from an uneducated response. Before throwing remarks about the event I suggest watching the film. This film is so inspiring and so truthful that finally the whole story is told from all three men involved. Watch the film and then tell us if your comments were a little misplaced. Peter Norman is a true hero not because he is white but because he saw the need to stand up with his fellow man against the treatment of black Americans in their own country. It doesn't take too much research to see that a white man from Australia who was brave enough to stand up for black America and black Australia did it not for his own benefit but as an important statement to whites everywhere to stand against injustice. This documentary does not take Peter Normans side. It fully discloses the truth of what happened. I too have read Tommies book and johns also. What I have read seems to me to be the glossy story with a few non truths thrown in to help sell merchandise. Whereas Salute puts the three men in the same room to tell the story without fear of gloss. If you haven't seen the film then see it. I must warn you that I cried like a teenage girl and I'm a big proud Black man that hasn't cried watching anything let alone a documentary. It creeps up on you but the moment that bring the audience to tears is unforgettable. The director is Peter Normans nephew Matt Norman. What he has made is an incredible film that not only changed history for me but put Peter Norman back into the picture where he truly deserves to be. What point shouldn't be overlooked is the fact that this small white guy split the two fastest men alive. Peter Norman won silver and yet gave that away for a greater cause. This film has my vote for best documentary at the oscars. Peter Norman never got to see the film so we all should show the man respect and at least give some back. If you are black and proud like I am then show your pride by saluting a man that sacrificed his glory for a better humanity. Five stars. Oscar make sure we see this film nominated. It deserves our recognition!

• Blackpower | August 6, 2012 11:27 PMReply

  The above comment comes from an uneducated response. Before throwing remarks about the event I suggest watching the film. This film is so inspiring and so truthful that finally the whole story is told from all three men involved. Watch the film and then tell us if your comments were a little misplaced. Peter Norman is a true hero not because he is white but because he saw the need to stand up with his fellow man against the treatment of black Americans in their own country. It doesn't take too much research to see that a white man from Australia who was brave enough to stand up for black America and black Australia did it not for his own benefit but as an important statement to whites everywhere to stand against injustice. This documentary does not take Peter Normans side. It fully discloses the truth of what happened. I too have read Tommies book and johns also. What I have read seems to me to be the glossy story with a few non truths thrown in to help sell merchandise. Whereas Salute puts the three men in the same room to tell the story without fear of gloss. If you haven't seen the film then see it. I must warn you that I cried like a teenage girl and I'm a big proud Black man that hasn't cried watching anything let alone a documentary. It creeps up on you but the moment that bring the audience to tears is unforgettable. The director is Peter Normans nephew Matt Norman. What he has made is an incredible film that not only changed history for me but put Peter Norman back into the picture where he truly deserves to be. What point shouldn't be overlooked is the fact that this small white guy split the two fastest men alive. Peter Norman won silver and yet gave that away for a greater cause. This film has my vote for best documentary at the oscars. Peter Norman never got to see the film so we all should show the man respect and at least give some back. If you are black and proud like I am then show your pride by saluting a man that sacrificed his glory for a better humanity. Five stars. Oscar make sure we see this film nominated. It deserves our recognition!

• Africameleon | August 6, 2012 4:09 PMReply

  This looks like a doc that aims to insert the White Australians narrative into that historical moment in an attempt to illustrate white resistance in support of black struggle. That is a slippery approach.... "The Salute" was not about white people nor was it cast as an action for "all humanity" at that time. Even though members of Black Power orgs did align themselves with Third World struggles, that gesture was about black people, black suffering, and black invisibility as recognized within the human family. This is a liberal attempt to re-write/re-articulate history. It's not just adding "the white guy's" narrative. It's opening up the history to re-interpretation that waters down the original gesture. Many may disagree with me, but there is a difference from debunking the myth of 1968 (which is also necessary b/c I'm anti 'hero' worship) and adding a particular kind of colored "truth" to that history. Smith's autobiography and some of the lectures given by Carlos in recent years have been geared towards opening up that moment to the rest of humanity and all who suffered oppression. But at the time, IT WAS about a specific racial oppression suffered by Black Americans and by extension the African Diaspora. We shouldn't shy away from that "truth" in the present moment in retrospect.