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Letters to the Editor

Decades Later, Still Resonating

To the Sports Editor:

Re “An Apology That’s Needed, Even if It Is Years Too Late,” July 18: We applaud William C. Rhoden’s suggestion that an apology to Tommie Smith and John Carlos for their expulsion by the United States Olympic Committee from the 1968 Games is long overdue. As teammates, we watched events unfold during those tumultuous days when a number of this country’s most accomplished athletes put their futures on the line to speak out against injustice. Smith, Carlos and their fellow 200-meter medalist, the Australian Peter Norman, paid a particularly high personal price for their courageous efforts asking the nation and the world to pay attention to the devastating and ongoing effects of centuries of racism.