Architect of 1968 Olympics Protest Supports Colin Kaepernick

Harrison Barnes, a sociologist and activist, helped organize protest at the 1968 Summer Olympics.

Dr. Harry Edwards
Dr. Harry Edwards of the San Francisco 49ers visits the National Museum of African American History and Culture. (Photo by Michael Zagaris/San Francisco 49ers/Getty Images)

Harrison Barnes loves basketball, but he also loves interacting with people and hearing about their beliefs, dreams, habits and outlooks on the world. He writes in The Players Tribune that interacting with different people, and hearing their stories, has sparked his curiosity about what makes people not only good at what they do, but good in general. In order to learn more about leaders who set out to make positive change in their communities, Barnes started an interview series where he talks to people he admires from afar in order to get to know them better. For his first interview, he spoke with Dr. Harry Edwards, who is a sociologist and civil rights activist. He was the architect behind the protest at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, but as Barnes found out through his interview, there is a lot more to admire about the man. Barnes and Edwards discuss Colin Kaepernick, who Edwards is very close to, Kaepernick’s protest and the residual effects, the issue of African Americans in sports’ higher positions, and more.

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