Apology to Peter Norman
Next Monday, parliament will be debating my motion to apologise to the late Peter Norman, whose courageous stance for racial equality got him blocked from competing in subsequent Olympics. Here’s the motion:
DR LEIGH: To move—That this House:
(1) recognises the extraordinary athletic achievements of the late Peter Norman, who won the silver medal in the 200 metres sprint running event at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, in a time of 20.06 seconds, which still stands as the Australian record;
(2) acknowledges the bravery of Peter Norman in donning an Olympic Project for Human Rights badge on the podium, in solidarity with African-American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos, who gave the ‘black power’ salute;
(3) apologises to Peter Norman for the wrong done by Australia in failing to send him to the 1972 Munich Olympics, despite repeatedly qualifying; and
(4) belatedly recognises the powerful role that Peter Norman played in furthering racial equality.
Bravo!
Yes, bravo.
Peter Norman was my son and I am so proud of the stand he took on that day ,it had nothing to do with Black Power it was solely for human rights ,I wish everyone to know that ,Tommy and John ,had that same thing in mind ,they have now had a statue erected at the university it is 20 feet high ,and Peter`s place on the stand is left for people to stand there and feel part of it ,Peter was invited to attend the unvailing of it .the Olympic games always have special memories for us ,I`m glad that he may be recognised at last for Peter`s commitment to sport here in Australia .We have a Proclamation from America that the day of Peter`s funeral was known as Peter Norman Day in america ,so they recognised just what it meant to him
Just as long as Tommie Smith and John Carlos don’t try to come here on boats eh Andrew?
To John Passant ,you don`t know just what it was about do you ,they are very well respected in their own country now they got their apologies many years ago from America so now it`s your turn to appologise,
At a time when Australian Leaders have come of age in terms of acknowledging the poor decisions and heartache caused by Governments and Politicians in the past, it is timely that Peter norman is recognised for the courages man and athlete that he was. I urge all Members of Parliament to join together in supporting this motion.
That Peter Norman was treated this way is perhaps one of the most shameful episodes in Australian sport.
Good on you Andrew for taking this initiative.
Let’s hope it doesn’t take forty years for a member of the Labor Party move a motion apologising for the treatment of refugees by the current parliament
Unfortunately I think it will Michael…
Amazing that it didn’t come to this long time ago. Good for you though.
Dear Andrew,
My mum called my sister and I this morning to tell us about your motion. We had tears in our eyes reading it. Peter is our Dad.
Words can’t really express the pride and emotion that comes with reading your compassionate words and the wonderfully supportive comments posted below it.
On behalf of the Norman family and of course our Dad, thank you, thank you very much.
Very best of luck & Kindest Regards
Emma, Belinda & Jan Norman
I truly hope that this motion is passed unanimously and that Members of our Parliament physically stand up in recognition of the wrong doing of the past and in acknowledgment of your Father’s solidarity with his African-American comrades and the cause for racial equality.
Thank you very much Jo.
Yes thank you so much for taking this up at last with Parliament ,I really hope it goes through .
Thanks Emma for your comment ,Your Dad did a wonderful thing that day and it should be remembered for ever love Grandma.
It’s fantastic when courage is recognised – equally it’s a crying shame that this took so long
I tip my hat to you Andrew. Well done!
Good on you, Dr Leigh. I do hope the motion will be carried unanimously.
Congratulations Andrew! Your marathon-running, social-democrat grandfather would be jumping from his grave in support of your motion.
when Peter Norman died I wrote an article for a daily Turkish newspaper, Star. It created incredible amount of interest. The story was republished by almost all daily newspapers in Turkey and it became a huge internet sensation. I still cannot believe the level of admiration of the Turkish public to the hero in my story (Peter Norman). My story is still there and continues to get thousands of hits. It broke my heart at the time to see how little coverage the death of Norman received in Australia while it became such a big story in a far far away land, Turkey. Of course, I will be writing another article about this motion telling the Turkish public that their hero is finally getting the apology he deserves although it is a bit too late. Great news for the family of Peter Norman.
thank you for your support, Peter is my older brother. Our family is delighted and relieved that this is going to parliament. I am appreciative of the fact that he was known in such far off countries as Turkey for his stand that day on the dais at the 1968 medal ceremony in Mexico. We are and always have been proud of the stand he took in Mexico.
My 10yr old daughter says its “too late to say sorry to Papa.” she asks “why has it taken so long?” She understands how badly he was treated. I know the adults of our country understand why. I hope the parlimentarians do too and right this very hurtful wrong. Thank you Dr. Leigh.
Sandy Kadri (née Norman) & family
Peter , you deserve this , it’s been a long time coming, you worked hard for this, I hope your looking down and watching and can smile.
I would also like to thank my brother Matt for his documentary ‘salute’ . He worked hard along side Peter to help tell this story, it not only told his story for my boys and I but also for a lot of Australians that never knew what happened and what the story behind that famous photo told.
I will never forget watching the first unedited version of ‘Salute’ at my brothers house with my uncle and his family and watching his face and the tears in his eyes… Priceless…. Your story lives on in us all now…. You finally are being recognized for the price you payed for what you believed in your heart to be right
My colleague Stewart Russell and I spent three years making an artwork about Peter Norman, and we were honoured to meet Peter and hear his story in 2006. This is an inspiring motion and it is great to realise that the simple action Peter took in 1968 may be remembered and honoured in a formal way by the Australian Government.
So many people in the art world and beyond have spoken to us about how moved and inspired they have been in learning about Peter Norman’s story and we have taken his courage with us in the making of new artworks and will continue to do so.
Our very best and warmest wishes to Peter’s family.
20.06 seconds to run, and 138,850,474 give or take, to get to an acknowledgement of the wrong done to you Uncle Peter. Thank you Andrew for this important statement that should supported by all who value fundamental human rights.
All Australian intellectuals have to be ashamed that it took so many years before Peter Norman’s courage and brilliant stance is to be recognized. My partner Aynur and I are proud to have attended to this exceptional man’s funeral, and met John Carlos there. These three great men had such a deep impact on me, and I will always be grateful. As a 9 year old boy growing up in Turkey, that 1968 photo taught me about humanity and values more than any teacher or person was able to.
Many thanks to the Honorable Andrew Leigh for bringing this issue to the Australian public’s attention.
It is not the colour of our skin, but the heart within. True credit to Peter Norman for uniting an Olympic Nation – you made a difference. Humanity deserves Recognition – and an apology Im sure will be well embraced by Peter Normans family; Tommie Smith & John Carlos
Fitting recognition for a great Australian. Well done Andrew for keeping the flame alive. This motion faithfully reflects the universal high regard that the Australian people have for Peter Norman. While I am saddened that Peter could not be present to receive this recognition in person, I hope that this motion is a source of great pride and comfort to his family.
Andrew, thank you for taking this initiative. It was a great act of solidarity by Peter Norman. Peter supplied the gloves to the two other men, hence the left-right combination. Peter Norman’s simple but courageous act is better known in the USA than it is in Australia. It is time that this good man was properly acknowledged in his own country.
That is an excellent gesture Andrew. Peter Norman was an honourable man and a great athlete – one of our greatest. It is a pity he never received the acknowledgement he deserved for his achievements and his courage during his lifetime.
I am 34 years old and have never heard this story until reading the Ninemsn article today. Here’s hoping the motion is past and this story is shared with more Australians. Peter Norman and the Norman family deserve this apology and more.
A wonderful gesture – and well deserved. One of my favourite examples of the Australian sense of “Fair Go”. Peter Norman deserves to be known as a hero – off and on the track. I’m hoping this motion is supported unanimously. Well done Dr leigh.
I had a subscription to an English magazine entitled “Headlines” back in the 1970′s.It was a collection of dramatic stories from around the world that made front page news at the time. The back page had a photo each edition of a famous/infamous event and the number 61 edition had the photo of Norman standing on the dias while Tommy and John took the black power salute in 1968. I still have this magazine and never new the full story of that photo until quite recently. What an inspirational story it is. Thank you for bringing it to the attention of the Australian Parliament and nation at this time Andrew. Perhaps through this process more Australians will come to know of the achievements and sacrifices that Peter Norman made by standing up for his personal beliefs. May we all become better people for knowing his story.
As an Australian abroad I’m so proud to be of the same nationality as this amazing individual. But equally I am ashamed, deeply deeply ashamed at the terrible injustice our country paid to this man. The US has celebrated him, as he should have been, yet his own country snubbed him, even refusing to let him take a role in the Sydney Olympics. I will honour him by making sure my son’s learn about him and the part he played in making the world a better place. They will know him and revere him. Thank you Andrew, for restoring some faith in the Australian nation. Also thank you to his family for sharing your thoughts, you should be so proud of this great man.
I may not agree with you ideologically Dr Leigh however, this is the sort of motion, the sort of action that highlights what is good about our system. Congrats for a fantastic motion, well done – i would be shocked if there is opposition to this.
To Peter Norman’s family, well might you smile today – congrats, this is well deserved recognition for a man it seems was not after recognition at all – he strikes me as a man who was doing what he thought was the right thing. This is the sort of australian we should be making mini series about – a story I would like to know more about.
Paul, get a hold of the DVD “Salute” if you can. It is an excellent movie about Peter’s efforts, his stance at Mexico and the politics of the time. Well worth a viewing.
Again, I would disagree with much labour is doing at the moment, however this is a really important motion and one that I fully support. I note that the AOC refuses to support the motion – given that Peter Norman made the Olympic Qualifying time in 1972 season and Australia instead chose to send no sprinters to Munich, I believe that their stand is reprehensible. I believe it was Plato that said that fools are exposed in the presence of a truly wise man. Good on you Peter – what a Legend!
I am a british born Australian and proud muslim. I was in London for the Olympics and when I was there the film Salute had just started in the cinemas across London. I was incredibly lucky to find that the screening I went to of Salute also had a question and answer session with Matt Norman on the cinema screen live. That in itself amazed me that I could watch Matt Norman’s film then speak with him on a cinema screen in Australia. One of the greatest moments I had was watching Peter Norman’s nephew speak with such respect, love and honor for his late uncle. After many hours of research into Peter and infact Matt Norman who inspired me personally I saw that Matt Norman was summoned to meet the Dalai Lama due to his own stance for civil and human rights. I also have seen and red probably 50 interviews with Matt Norman that tells me that Australia should be very proud of not only Peter but Matt who seems to have spent years trying to get Peter Norman recognised throughout the World. An interesting note, I have just been listening again to Matt Norman speak in Alice Springs as I write this message of support. He spent over half of the interview discussing Aboriginal rights and stating that he is now studying his law degree to further stand against injustice. Thelma you obviously have good DNA as having two members of your family so involved in international human rights is worth a thank you on its own. Congratulations to the Norman family and for my part for Matt Norman bringing this story to the World.
Dr. Leigh, this is a fantastic motion, I wholeheartedly applaud it!
I had often passed the “Three Proud People” mural near Macdonaldtown railway station, and I knew the story of Tommie Smith and John Carlos’s salute, but I must confess it was only a couple of years ago that I learned who the third man on the podium was, and the price Peter Norman paid for standing up for his principles.
I’m more proud of that act than any other Olympic performance by any other Australian, and I wish you every success in getting an official apology and acknowledgement. It’s just a shame this could not have occurred during Peter Norman’s lifetime.
Well done Andrew…this is an outstanding initiative. Australias history has much with which one can be ashamed and yet Peter Norman makes us proud to be Australians. His courage at a time when Australia was ostensibly an Apartheid state will linger in our hearts and minds. Vale Peter Norman. Thank you Andrew.
While I do support such a motion, I think it’s a relatively “empty” one without a public discussion on the issues related to racism in Australia. Peter Norman made his stance for human-rights reasons, but he was later punished in Australia, by Australians, by the Australian government, by the Australian athletics infrastructure because of deeply ingrained racist attitudes. I would agree with the notion that the Australian context, vis-a-vis race relations, has improved since then. But racism remains a part of our contemporary society, and an apology to Norman represents a good entry point to discussing such issues.
It’s not enough to apologise for a wrong we have committed. We need to openly discuss why we did that wrong, and work towards solutions so that it won’t happen again in the future.
As an Australian living in London I recently had the privilege of attending a Q&A with John Carlos, himself an inspiring man, who spoke so eloquently and passionately about his ‘brother by another mother’ Peter Norman. There was extensive coverage of his actions and treatment by the BBC during the London Olypmics coverage and Salute has also recently been screening across the UK. I knew a little about Peter beforehand, but Carlos’ talk, watching Salute and reading more about the occasion has left me amazed at Peter’s treatment in Australia after the Olympics by the Government, AOC and media at large. To say that a motion of this nature is overdue is an understatement, but better late than never, and if only to record for future generations that there are many ways that people can stand up for human rights. Peter’s family can be justifiably proud of Peter and his actions, it takes courage to stand up for your beliefs. I only hope that John and Tommy can again visit Australia to remind us of the importance of those actions back in 1968, and that Peter is man of whom all Australians can and should be proud of. Best of luck Andrew in securing the passage of this motion and best wishes to all the Norman family, I hope you can be in the public gallery when it is passed.
Hello Andrew, well done on Taking Matt Norman’s 8 years of hard work to Parliament without making mention of how incredibly dedicated he has been to teach the World about Peter Norman. Maybe you should make it known that Matt Norman is telling the story of his uncle. Not once have we seen you mention Salute the movie which is currently playing in cinemas in London and across usa. Is there a reason why the one person who has done everything to educate the World about Peter Norman is being left out like his uncle was back in 68. Do what’s right. Jacob.
I had a mention of ‘Salute’ in an earlier draft of my speech, but being allowed only five minutes in parliament meant that lots of things had to be cut!
Well done on raising this issue, and attempting to correct an injustice. At least the public record is somewhat fixed, even if Peter Norman himself did not receive due recognition.