I was 11 years old at the time.
I am a white male and grew up in a Midwestern city where there was a lot of racial tension. The racial makeup of this city was changing from predominantly white to predominantly black. Many of my friends and their parents were prejudiced. I had mostly white friends/teachers/neighbors but also a few black friends/teachers/neighbors. Race did not really influence my thinking and I was not prejudiced. But I did not fully understand the situation of blacks and/or racial inequality in the US at the time.
Although only 11, and not really paying close attention to the national news, it was hard to ignore the MLK assassination, race riots, violence. I remember having some fear that violence might break out in my town and impact me. I was not fully aware of racial inequality at school or in my life. In just a few more years, I could be considered part of the white minority in my city, but I did not look at it that way.
I followed and participated in sports and was very interested in running and the Olympics. At the time, I believed that sports existed in its own separate world, not really influenced by the outside world. I developed relationships with a diverse range of other kids through sports (kids football, basketball and baseball teams). Playing on teams with and against a diverse group of other kids helped me ignore any differences and treat everyone equally. Perhaps we were too young and innocent, but we just had fun playing sports. I valued sports as a positive thing which was, for the most part, was separated from the real world.
I remember hearing about a possible boycott of the games by black Olympians. I did not like this idea at the time, as I believed it would be mixing sports and the real world. At the time, I did not fully understand all the reasons behind the possible boycott.
I admired Smith and Carlos for their dedication and athletic ability. I was glad they did not boycott the games and was impressed with their race.
At the time I was somewhat disappointed with their actions during the medal ceremony. I did not fully understand why they were doing that. Why would they do something that might tarnish their achievement, in the eyes of some? Why would they risk doing this? This seemed contrary to Olympic ideals. It mixed real world issues with sport.
It would take me a couple more years to begin to more fully understand why they did this. As I got older, my attitude changed.
I came to appreciate their courage and conviction. Their actions were incredibly powerful and symbolic, and they did it in front of the world. They did not boycott the games and ran fantastic races. For the most part, they kept sport and the real world separate as they limited their actions to the medal ceremony (which was not part of the actual race and was already weird with flags and national anthems).
So, while my views of them and their actions have changed over time, I do not believe their actions significantly changed my views much about racial inequality.
Maybe I was just too young at the time. No disrespect to Smith and Carlos (their actions were genius and they did the best they could), but I believe there were other events which helped me more fully understand racial inequality.