Poster of the Week for Nov. 25

"I Don't See an American Dream, 
I See an American Nightmare"
                                   Malcolm X
Scott Braley
Fireworks Graphics
Prairie Fire Organizing Committee
Offset, 1992
Berkeley, CA
9482

Ferguson, Missouri continues to burn after a grand jury decided not to indict police Officer Darren Wilson who killed Michael Brown, an unarmed African American teenager last August 9. CSPG's Poster of the Week reminds us of another act of police violence 22 years ago, when rioting and burning took place throughout Los Angeles and other cities after an all-white jury acquitted the four police officers on trial for brutally beating Rodney King, an unarmed African American motorist. But at least there was a subsequent federal trial about the police actions regarding Rodney King. In Ferguson, following a highly criticized grand jury process, no charges were filed.

This poster was produced in Berkeley, California and shipped down to Los Angeles, while Los Angeles was under curfew during the 1992 uprising. It was going to be distributed at a demonstration held in front of LAPD headquarters at Parker Center, downtown L.A. As hundreds of protesters arrived, the LAPD rescinded the permit and declared the demonstration to be an illegal assembly.

Rodney King background:
Glen 'Rodney' King, an African American motorist, was beaten repeatedly by Los Angeles Police officers on March 3, 1991. Unbeknownst to the police, a bystander, George Holliday, videotaped the beating and it aired on television throughout the world. The incident raised an outcry, as many people, both within and outside the African American community, believed that the beating was racially motivated, excessive and an example of police brutality. Although 27 officers were witnesses and/or participants, only 4 were brought to trial. The trial was moved from Los Angeles to Simi Valley, because the defense argued that it was not possible to have a fair trial in Los Angeles. The defense team also preferred Simi Valley because its population is more affluent, contains a much smaller proportion of African Americans, and contains a disproportionately large number of law-enforcement officers.

The April 1992 acquittals in a state court of the four officers triggered massive rioting in Los Angeles, which left hundreds of buildings severely damaged or destroyed and dozens dead. Smaller riots occurred in other U.S. cities. King made an appearance before television news cameras to plead for peace, saying, "Can't we get along here? Can't we all just get along?"

On May 1, 1992 as the unrest continued, President G. H. W. Bush announced that he would most likely charge the officers with violating King's civil rights. King testified in this Federal trial on March 9, 1993. Then on August 4, a federal judge sentenced LAPD officers Stacey Koon and Laurence Powell to 30 months in prison on this charge. The other officers were not convicted, and there was no rioting.

Poster of the Week

Gay Olympic Games

Artist Unknown

Silkscreen, 1982

San Francisco, CA

34013

Of the many ongoing controversies surrounding the 22^nd Winter Olympic Games taking place in Sochi, Russia’s anti-gay laws criminalizing and marginalizing the LGBTQ communities continue to be one of the most widely protested.  While it’s easy to point the finger at homophobic Russians, the U.S. has a long history of discrimination against people in the LGBTQ communities. The Gay Olympics was launched in San Francisco in 1982.  Less than three weeks before the start of the Gay Olympics, event organizers were sued by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) which claimed that the USOC had exclusive rights to the word Olympic in the United States. Defendants in the lawsuit contended that the law was capriciously applied and that if the Nebraska Rat Olympics and the Police Olympics did not face similar lawsuits, neither should the Gay Olympics. Many believed that homophobia was a motivation behind the lawsuit. After the ruling blocked the use of the name "Gay Olympic Games," they became known—and continue to be known—as the Gay Games.  This poster was made before the ruling.

Despite the popular myth that the Olympics celebrate the skill, talent and dedication of the athletes, the Olympics have always been primarily about political and financial wheeling and dealing.  For those who have doubts, please consider the following:

1936 – Hitler intended that the Berlin Olympics would demonstrate the supremacy of Nazi ideology. After African American Jesse Owens won four gold medals and set two world records, Hitler’s propaganda mission suffered a serious blow.  Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller were the only two Jews on the American track and field team who went to the Berlin Olympics. They were scheduled to run in the 4 x 100 meter relay event but their coach, Dean Cromwell, pulled them at the last minute partly because of anti-Semitism and partly because Cromwell and Avery Brundage, president of the U.S. Olympic Committee, didn't want to offend or embarrass their Nazi hosts by having two American Jews on the winning podium.  Earlier, Brundage had opposed a boycott of the Berlin Olympics, arguing that politics had no place in sport. 

1956 – The Soviet Union sent more than 200,000 soldiers to put down a nationalist uprising in Hungary. The Hungarian water polo team fled the country during the uprising, and made their way to the Melbourne Olympics. When they faced off against the Soviet water polo team, the match was violent, with both teams trading blows in the pool.

1968 – The Olympic Games were held in Mexico City. Ten days before the opening, the Mexican military fired on student protesters, killing hundreds.  This became known as the Tlatelolco massacre.  After winning the gold and bronze medals in the 200 meters, African Americans Tommie Smith and John Carlos received their medals on the podium shoeless but wearing black socks to symbolize black poverty, black scarves to symbolize black pride, and a single black glove on a hand raised in salute.  They had their metals taken away, received death threats and were ostracized by the U.S. sporting establishment.

Pugno Chiuso Contra il Razzismo USA

Translation: Fist Closed Against Racism in the USA 

Partito Comunista Italiano (PCI)

Offset, 1968

Rome, Italy

5818

Translation:

Fist Closed Against Racism in the USA

Smith and Carlos at the Olympic Games

Bare Feet: the poverty of the black people

Black Glove: the mourning of the black people

Closed Fist: the willingness to fight

The Italian Communists are with them against imperialism and racism

1972 – The Munich Olympics were the first Games held in Germany since Hitler’s 1936 Berlin Games.  The West German government hoped to present to the world the democratic and optimistic West Germany.  Instead, 11 Israeli athletes were killed by the Palestinian terrorist group Black September who had originally intended to exchange the Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners.  After a one-day suspension, the Games continued.  Following the Games, the Israeli government launched Operation Wrath of God and Operation Spring of Youth to track down and kill those responsible for the massacre.

1980 – When the U.S. and Soviets were fighting a proxy war in Afghanistan, President Jimmy Carter led a 62 nation boycott of the Soviet Olympics.

1984 – The Soviets retaliated to the 1980 boycott by leading a 14 nation boycott of the Olympics in Los Angeles.

Official Olympics Police State

Fireworks Graphics

Silkscreen, 1984

Los Angeles, California

3130

This poster decries the militarization of Los Angeles during the 1984 Olympics, when officials invoked heightened security measures in response to later discredited reports that the city faced a threat of terrorist action that would be comparable to the attack on Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.   

Sources:

http://worldpoliticsblog.wordpress.com/2008/08/05/politics-in-olympic-history/

http://www.thenation.com/article/178053/lgbt-movement-takes-aim-sochi#

http://www.democracynow.org/2014/2/5/celebration_capitalism_the_olympics_global_protests

http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2014/2/6/the_sochi_olympics_from_putin_and

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/olympics.html