Long before Colin Kaepernick knelt during the national anthem during mundane NFL games, Tommie Smith and John Carlos each raised one black glove-covered fist in the air during the medal ceremony of the 200-meter sprint event at the 1968 Summer Olympics.
Smith finished first in the event and Carlos finished third, giving the U.S.A. a majority share on the podium over the sovereign world, but nobody seemed to care about that as much as how they used their platform.
Both American sprinters were immediately booted off of the Olympic team and essentially excommunicated from international competition.