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The 1968 US Olympic track and field team is considered one of the greatest ever assembled to represent the US in the Olympics.
1968年的美国奥运田径队被认为是有史以来最伟大的美国奥运代表队之一。
They won 28 medals and set 8 world records at the games in Mexico City.
他们在墨西哥城奥运会上共斩获了28枚奖牌，还创造了8项世界纪录。
The team included some of the fastest runners in the world at the time.
他们中间有一些放眼全世界都是顶尖级别的运动员。
Like sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos,
比如短跑运动员汤米·史密斯和约翰·卡洛斯，
who made history when they accepted their medals and then raised their fists
他们二人还被载入了史册，因为就在他们站在领奖台上领奖，
during the playing of the US national anthem, in a protest full of symbolism.
会场已经奏响美国国歌时，他们举起了自己的拳头，发出了充满象征意味的抗议。
And they almost didn't even show up that year.
问题是，那一年，他们差点就没有出现在赛场上。
"Black men and women athletes have unanimously voted to fully endore and participate in a boycott of the World Olympic Games in 1968."
“黑人运动员，无论男女，都一致投票支持并参加抵制1968年奥运会的活动。”
Members of the team threatened to stay home, in protest of racist treatment of Black athletes in America.
该田径队的成员也威胁要呆在家里，抗议美国对黑人运动员的种族主义待遇。
"They will not participate in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City unless something is done about these terrible evils and injustices."
“他们不会参加1968年在墨西哥城举行的奥运会，除非有关方面不再无视那些可怕的邪恶和不公行为。”
"So they can't stop Black boys don't want to go."
“他们不停止（歧视）我们黑人孩子就不愿意参加。”
"What will they have to do for you to go to Mexico, Tommie?"
“他们要怎么做你才愿意去墨西哥（城参加比赛）呢，汤米？”
"Boycott is still on."
“抵制还没结束。”
The story of this silent protest, and the boycott that almost was,
关于这场无声抗议，以及差一点就成型的抵制的故事，
starts with the buttons all three medal winners wore that day:
还要从这三位奖牌获得者当天佩戴的这枚胸章说起：
The Olympic Project for Human Rights.
奥林匹克人权项目。
The Olympic Project for Human Rights, or OPHR,
奥林匹克人权项目，简称OPHR，
was founded in 1967 by sociologist, educator, and former star athlete Dr. Harry Edwards.
是社会学家、教育家和前明星运动员哈里·爱德华兹博士于1967年成立的。
It was a coalition of prominent Olympic athletes that threatened to derail American Olympic glory by opting out of the games.
这是一个由知名奥运运动员组成的联盟，他们威胁要退出奥运会，破坏美国的奥运荣耀。
To protest the racism in sports that had for decades gone unaddressed.
抗议体育界几十年来一直没有得到解决的种族主义问题。
In the mid-20th century, sports seemed to be a leading example of improved racial equality in the United States.
20世纪中叶，体育堪称美国种族平等问题得到改善的头号例子。
Black athletes like football player Kenny Washington and baseball player Jackie Robinson
橄榄球运动员肯尼·华盛顿，棒球运动员杰基·罗宾逊等黑人运动员
broke racial barriers by joining professional leagues in 1946 and 1947.
在1946，1947年成功加入职业联赛，打破了种族障碍。
Which until that point, had been whites only.
在那之前，职业联赛队伍里都是清一色的白人。
College and professional sports teams gradually integrated from there – –
从那时起，大学运动队和职业运动队就已经逐渐开始融合了——
years ahead of racial segregation legally ending in the United States.
比美国从法律上结束种族隔离早了好几年。
"So the media began to promote the Black athlete as a symbol that racial democracy existed in the United States.
“于是，媒体开始宣传黑人运动员就是美国存在种族民主的象征。
If Jackie Robison can make it, then why can't other Blacks make it?
如果杰基·罗宾逊能做到，其他黑人凭什么不能？
And so it was kind of a factor that was used to dismiss the question of institutionalized racism."
这也就成了他们对制度化种族主义问题不予理会的说辞。”
But in the 1960s, the myth of racial progress in America began to dissolve.
然而，到了20世纪60年代，种族进步的神话开始瓦解了。
The Civil Rights Act ended legal segregation in 1964,
1964年颁布的《民权法案》从法律上结束了种族隔离，
but Black Americans continued to face institutionalized racism and police brutality.
但美国的黑人并没有因此摆脱制度化的种族主义行径和警察暴行。
"Integration simply wasn't successful in improving Black people's lives, and you needed to force further change."
“种族融合并没能改善黑人的生活，所以还得继续变革。”
Years of frustration ultimately erupted in widespread violent riots.
积压多年的不满终于发酵成大面积的暴力骚乱爆发了。
"I think the further we get away from it, we underestimate the influence of the riots.
“我个人觉得啊，时间过去得越久，我们就越会低估那些暴乱的影响。
The riots happened in a lot of urban cities across America.
当时，全国各地的很多城市都爆发了骚乱。
Black people still live in terrible socioeconomic conditions in the cities.
城市里的黑人的社会经济状况依然还很糟糕。
And that was just as much a problem as Jim Crow laws.
而这个问题的严重性并不亚于吉姆·克劳法（种族隔离制度）问题的严重性。
So how do you attract attention to that?"
那你怎么才能让这个问题得到大家的关注？”
A growing Black Power movement and Black student movement in the 1960s
20世纪60年代一起日益壮大的黑人权力运动和黑人学生运动
emboldened Black athletes to speak up about the racial injustices they endured off the field.
开始鼓励黑人运动员大声说出他们在赛场外遭遇的种族不公待遇。
"There's no difference between the Black and the white athlete.
“黑人运动员和白人运动员并没有什么区别。
We're all out there sweating, we run on two legs.
大家跑起来都得流汗，都要用两条腿跑。
But there's a difference in the way society treats us after we leave the track."
但我们从赛道上下来还是受到了不一样的待遇。”
But with the 1968 Olympics coming up, black athletes saw an opportunity to push for change.
不过，随着1968年奥运会日益临近，黑人运动员看到了一个推动变革的机会。
"The idea of a black Olympic boycott had been around since 1959.
“1959年的时候就有黑人应该抵制奥运会的看法存在了。
And it went through various fits and stops until you get to the first Black Power Conference in 1967.
不过，在1967年第一次召开黑人权力会议以前，这种看法一直都是断断续续，时有时无的。
And the Black Power Conference basically argued
那次黑人权力会议的主题思想就是
that you should use any means possible to force the government to pay attention to institutionalized racism."
你得想方设法迫使政府关注制度化种族主义问题。”
For Harry Edwards, that meant organizing the Olympic Project for Human Rights.
在哈里·爱德华兹看来，这就意味着成立“奥林匹克人权项目”。
"And I think one of those means that is necessary right now
“我认为，现在就需要落实的措施就是
is the Olympic boycott movement and the whole revolt of the Black athlete in this country."
开展抵制奥运会运动，调动这个国家所有的黑人运动员起来反抗。”
"He realized that he could use Black sports participation as a way to attract attention to the problem."
“他意识到，他可以利用黑人在体育赛事中的参与度来吸引人们关注这个问题。”
