Tommie Smith > Quotes

“We had to be seen because we couldn't be heard.”
― Tommie Smith

“Every chance I got, I'd say a small prayer. There was no time better than that moment. If your soul wasn't right, you probably couldn't see it, couldn't feel it. All of a sudden, I was aware of everything, but afraid of nothing.”
― Tommie Smith, Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist for Justice

“I'd like you to come to Ohio, Tom. Would you consider being our basketball and maybe our track and field coach?

Really?! Sounds great, but I've never lived in the Midwest. Snow and all...

Tommie... It might be time for a change, my friend.”
― Tommie Smith, Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist for Justice

“Those fists in the air were dedicated to everyone at home, back in the projects in Chicago, Oakland, and Detroit, to everyone in the boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn, to all of the brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers in Birmingham, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, St. Louis, New Orleans, to everyone struggling, working their fingers to the bone on farms across America, to everyone holding out hope that things will get better... that was for you, from John and me. We had to be seen because we were not being heard.”
― Tommie Smith