It's really strange that, 53 years after John Carlos and Tommy Smith raised their fists at the 1968 Olympics, athletes protesting racism is still a controversial subject. The Games relaxed its rules against activism this year, sort of, by allowing Olympians to demonstrate before competition begins. (Protesting at medal ceremonies will still be punished.) And on Wednesday, entire soccer teams did just that, taking a knee on the field during the first day of play — but the Olympics apparently decided to pretend it wasn't happening.
The Guardian reported that on Tuesday evening, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Tokyo 2020 organizers banned their social media teams from posting images of athlete protests, specifically mentioning Great Britain's women's soccer match against Chile the next day. Sure enough, both teams took a knee before the game; as did players from the United States, Sweden, and New Zealand. The Australian women linked arms and held their country's Indigenous flag. Images of player protest were broadcast on live TV and celebrated in the news — but none of the powerful photos made it onto the official Tokyo 2020 live blog, Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. The Tokyo 2020 Instagram account alone has more than half a million followers.
