John Carlos, who famously raised his black-gloved fist on the 1968 Olympic medal stand, said he felt déjà vu as current athletes, including NFL players, made other gestures in support of human rights in recent weeks.
“I felt like I was a horticulturer or a gardener,” Carlos, the 1968 Olympic 200m bronze medalist, said on CNN on Sunday. “I planted seeds and tilled the earth and watered it. And then 50 years later, here we are. We see the fruits of our labor. There’s many individual kids that understand now, far greater than they did 50 years ago, it’s about worth, self-sacrifice to make a better world.