The Jesse Owens Mentions at the WC

Unfortunately, this is letsrun.com. No one really cares (If you know what I mean). But personally yeah, I think its sad.

Thank you! Yes, this hypocrisy is disgusting. Hitler wouldn't shake his hand, blah blah blah, yeah well guess what, neither would FDR. He didn't send him a telegram and he didn't invite him to the White House. When JO toured in Europe he stayed in the same hotels as his white team mates, in the US he had to stay in neg\ro pensions.

The only reason the IAAF allowed the USATF to put that sticker on the uniforms is that they knew what a meal the US media would have made of it, had it been denied.

haha i was thinking the same thing. they really sugarcoated that entire situation. the man set 4 world records in the olympics and came back to the country he had just competed for and didn't even have the right to go into any bathroom or dining facility he wanted

yep. what a f'in "great" country this has always been, right?

lol wow 5 replies...very very interesting

The board seems to be following USATF's "lets pretend that part didn't happen" philosophy.

Letsrun has a hard time getting excited about sprinters unless there's a chance they are doping or might move up to the 800. In the case of Jesse Owens both are extremely unlikely.

True, but they've never been shy about bashing USATF, which is what this is really about anyway.

I find it very interesting whenever anyone brings up the 1936 Olympics, that they always remember to bring up Jesse Owens and how he showed those Nazis what's what. However, they fail to mention that fact that Nazi Germany actually annihilated everyone else on the medal table ( Including good old USA). Now if that isn't slanted history, then I have no clue what is.

well because jessie owens was the big story. journalist tend to focus on the biggest and most sentimental stories because that is what gets the most views and replies. what jessie had to go through during those times was a shame, and even more of a shame that someone like you would attempt to discredit his efforts at all.

Do you think people are going to remember the medal count from last years games of what Bolt did? Jesse Owen's performance was one of the greatest in the history of the sport. Of course that's what the game is remembered for.

Maybe because everyone knows what the US was like in the post WWII era? It was a disgraceful period. I think we have progressed quite nicely from those days.

Do you honestly expect coverage to focus on US segregation? That's kind of a downer. I would actually be surprised if they transitioned from a story of triumph to American apartheid. That'd go over real well.

Its not about the progression or the era but it is dishonest to not tell the complete story of Jessee Owens and those games. And, honestly, if they mentioned it, it would be a more fitting tribute. They could simply claim that this was an attempt to honor an athlete that was not sufficiently appreciated in his time. Ignoring the consequences of the Berlin games (including the role it played in the Mexico City protests) while constantly mentioning Owens should raise eyebrows in everyone.

They're not telling the life story of Jesse Owens, they're showing a track meet.

They're mentioning Jesse Owens and his role in the Berlin games every two minutes. Every American Athlete has a JO on their shirt. I'm simply saying that its disingenuous to only tell hart of the story.

just because it's a depressing topic doesn't mean it shouldn't be mentioned. it's still very relevant not only to the United States but other countries around the world that suffer with their own racial discrimination issues.

America just doesn't want to look bad, thats why.

KUFI wrote:

Anyone else disappointing that they're not telling the whole story. They seem to be completely ignoring what happened after he returned home, which I think is as compelling and historically relevant as what happened in Berlin.

Actually, the only reason it's being mentioned at all is to try and keep hammering the West for "racism" and "nazism". It's notable that the people behind this bs tactic are basically the descendants of bolsheviks who murdered more people than anyone in the 20th century, but their control of certain institutions at the moment keeps most of the naive public in the dark. Look up Genrick Yagoda for example, or Kaganovich and Beria. These people have no interest in racism per se, they just want control.

You should read Owens' memoirs. He goes into the real story of what happened with Hitler etc. It doesn't exactly jibe with the horse puckey the mainstream media has been shoveling everyone's way for decade after decade. Owens was treated poorly when he returned, but the hypocrites in the media were far worse, using him as a tool, one more story to be used to move the US along into war. Disgusting on all sides when you consider how classy Owens was.