re: On this day in 1968 during the Mexico Olympics...

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At least they did it at a time when black people were actually legally 2nd class citizens

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In addition to US racial tumult including MLK's 1968 assassination and its aftermath, Apartheid was at full-mast. Carlos, Smith and Norman all cited Apartheid as a preeminent cause of their podium actions.

Under Apartheid from 1960 through the 1968 Olympics, more than a million Black South Africans were removed from their homes. They were forced into segregated neighborhoods, some at cost of significant family assets. Freedom of travel for Black and Asian SouthAfricans was actively limited by new laws.

Those restrictions resulted in the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre (eerily similar in result to the recent LasVegas massacre) carried out by police with machine guns against unarmed civilians. Most were hit in the back as they fled. About 30 children were shot in the process.

Through 1968, South African Blacks were allowed a maximum of only 4 seats in Parliament. That was 4 out of 400 over all. Asians were allowed none btw. In 1968 even that changed, and the Parliament became 100% white by law. By the time of the Mexico City Olympics Apartheid Law allowed differential governmental funding of projects based solely on racial make-up of surrounding neighborhoods.

Apartheid racism extended to athletics to the extent that SouthAfrica was finally expelled from the Olympics in 1964, the same year Nelson Mandela was handed his infamous life sentence at Robben Island. However, by 1968 it had negotiated with the IOC and was set to resume competition. After various protests/demonstrations, the IOC eventually came to its senses and decided SA participation might be a bad idea.

That was the environment in which the IOC, Americans, and Australians excoriated three athletes for a podium demonstration