The impact of the campaign on the USA
Tommie Smith, and John Carlos show raised fists on the podium in the 1968 Olympics
The emergence of Black Power divided American society.
Many white people lost patience with the violent approach of Stokely Carmichael and the Black Panthers.
The race riots of the mid 1960s and the Black Power salute given by two American athletes at the Mexico Olympics in 1968 demonstrated a deeply divided country.
The Kerner Commission
The Kerner Commission investigated the race riots of March 1968 and published a number of findings:
- The USA was a divided society, black people were generally poor while white people were more prosperous.
- Unemployment among black men was double the rate for white men.
- 40 per cent of all black Americans lived in poverty. Poverty was highlighted as the main causes of the riots.