Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Red Bull Ring, 2020

Hamilton: Black Power salute on Styrian GP podium was a moment I’ll never forget

2020 F1 season

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Lewis Hamilton says making the ‘Black Power’ salute on the podium after he won the Styrian Grand Prix was a moment he’ll always remember.

The six-times world champion mimicked the gesture made by Tommie Smith and John Carlos on a podium during the 1968 Olympic Games. The pair each raised a fist while the American national anthem was performed following Smith’s victory in the 200-metre sprint event.

Hamilton made his gesture following the renditions of the British and German national anthems on Sunday.

He said he hasn’t met Smith and Carlos, now 76 and 75 respectively, “but of course I remember witnessing, seeing and reading about their experience and seeing the iconic image of their salute. And that was inspiring for me.”

The Mercedes driver incorporated a Black Power logo into his social media branding following the death of George Floyd in May. His killing at the hands of a white police officer prompted widespread anti-racism protests, some of which Hamilton has participated in.

“Racism is something that as been around for hundreds of years and currently continues,” he said. “When you’ve got icons, people like that who’ve stood up against this battle, I just find it inspiring.

“I just took a page out of their book, realising that I have this platform, I have this opportunity to continue to raise awareness and try and unite people, to try and educate myself but also educate other people and that was really where it came from.

“It felt like the right moment, it felt an important moment for me. I’ll never forget that moment.”

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2020 F1 season

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Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Red Bull Ring, 2020
Lewis Hamilton gave the Black Power salute after winning the Styrian Grand Prix

37 comments on “Hamilton: Black Power salute on Styrian GP podium was a moment I’ll never forget”

  1. Gestures can have power, some may dismiss Lewis’ salute but it was a strong statement and in a media-centric world, such strong images have an impact. I’m glad he stuck to his personal convictions, it was a great way to punctuate such a dominant performance.

    1. Yes, absolutely great. Also, I can’t wait for the next driver making a White Power gesture, and see how the world reacts to that one. Can’t have enough “strong statements” pulling people farther aside from each other, dividing them and putting up a wall between them.
      Hamilton is a clearly making racist statements and frankly, it’s accepted and cheered for. Well, whites have all these privileges, so at least give a black man the privilege to act racist without being condemned for it, right?
      Racism is wrong always. Whether you are white, or black, stop acting as if the colour of skin is so damn important. Most people don’t care a dime about the skin colour you got. Maybe it’s a different case in the USA, but don’t pretend the same applies to Europe.
      We need love. And we can’t do that giving a free pass to people whose sole goal is to divide each other more and more.

      1. NeverElectric
        16th July 2020, 23:38

        Ethnic European Power has been misused on a vast scale to enslave other peoples, visit World Wars on humanity, unleash wars on the Middle East and Africa, etc.
        “Black Power” has not.
        That’s why one is acceptable as a gesture while the other isn’t.
        Plus, it’s not like ethnic Europeans need empowering anyway – what are they victims of…wealth and socio-political dominance?

        1. Black power absolutely has. South Africa ring a bell? They’re killing whites and stealing land on a massive scale there.

          1. Not just South Africa, same thing happened in some other African countries, as a revenge for the colonial rule, for example Uganda, Zimbabwe etc; practically in every country with wast black majority and significant enough white minority. But only white people are allowed to be called racists nowadays, even though most of us have nothing to do with slavery.

          2. @jblank Are you still here posting? I thought you wrote that ” Shockingly, some of us prefer our race coverage politics free..” and that “I am about to pull my monthly donation” from Racefans. Typical narrow-minded bluster, I guess. Unfortunately for you, the world has moved on.

      2. Excellent post! I agree. Such a double standard.

  2. Rich man finally finds out racism is bad after 86 victories when there is no monetary risks to assume racism is bad

    1. Boy finds out about racism at the kart track when they give him that racist nickname that pleases ‘the senior figure in British motorsport’ so much. Or when they refer to pit ‘n word’, or ‘n word’ music within earshot. But it wasn’t directly aimed at him, so whats his problem?
      Rich black boxer/racing driver/footballer/ who has been down the same road understands that their status and money now gives them a voice. So they use it.

      1. @riptide – Completely agree.

        Why is it that when a black man makes a stand for something worthwhile he is dismissed, mocked, knocked for it?

        When F1 drivers wore black armbands after the Paris attacks I can’t recall comments then saying how silly it is or criticising them.

      2. Would this be the same poor boy who moved to avoid paying taxes that help the poor kids he now keeps referring to?
        Or the poor boy who has only used his celebrity to put more money in his bank account to this point?

        Because to be fair, the only time he has referred to race in the past was when he pulled that card at the Monaco GP when he was legitimately penalised & lost the race.

        How many people of colour has he brought into grassroots motorsport or even into F1?
        Top drivers & riders in motorsport are well known for being able to hand pick their immediate team members, even including them in contracted moves to other manufacturers or teams … so where has this poor boy given engineers and mechanics of colour opportunity alongside him, or is it that he didn’t have faith in their abilities while he pursued the win at all costs agenda?

        1. Are you referring to the guy who has been speaking almost non stop for the last decade through his work with Save the Children, EducationAfrica, UN4, Unicef, etc. Or maybe the money he puts into the two Military Hospitals, the homeless shelters in the UK and USA, GOSH, Rennaisance. Just a few examples of course. Or the guy that pays taxes in the countries he resides in or earns his money in. I assume you are not referring to other Monaco residents as Ham lives mainly in the States; where he does pay tax. Is it that guy who gets invited to speak at Teacher of the Year, Alperton and the various BAME seminars? Or are you just looking for one black man to give the knee up to another black guy without looking deeper into the problem?
          No don’t tell me, because he was born here you want him to pay taxes here. I hear that a lot, and when you ask those same people in that case are you arguing that the billionaires from other countries who live in the UK should not be paying tax here, but sending it back to their mother country you are usually meet with the sound of crickets.
          Only the truly ignorant would claim that he has only just woken up to those who are left behind. And that includes children, black people, homeless, the sick, the military; and many others.
          Anyway, the Sky organisation and their middle aged white guy presenters will be giving us their expert opinions on these matters in every session this week, as they have for the last two weeks. I’m sure many will feel more comfortable listening to them discussing it given there have been very few whinges on here about that.

          1. I don’t get the “here” or the “sky presenters” not everyone in the world is born in the UK, if you are accusing others of not knowing what’s going on in the world maybe it’s good to assume there’s more world.

            Hamilton does not live in Monaco because it’s a nice city to live, he lives there for the same reason every other millionaire does: to avoid taxes. It’s not a matter of paying there instead of paying in the UK, it’s a matter of not paying Vs paying something.

            It’s cool to give 1% of your salary to solidarity programs when you are avoiding paying 30 or 40% of taxes.

            Hamilton is an hypocrite, he only came forward speaking against racism in this manner when it become PR safe to do that. He is not willing to take any risk, and this is not an opinion, that’s something he said when he talked about taking a knee in solidarity to Colin Kaepernick, he was already a multiple world champion and the most valuable person in sport, but it was not so PR safe to protest and he preferred to be quiet.

            Now that everybody is outside and every brand is hashtagging with #BLM he is taking a knee and doing a black power salute.

            Sorry, there are lots of heroes And symbols in this black rights awakening, Hamilton is not one of them, and the way he is forcing himself so much to look like one makes him look ridiculous.

            As someone said before, he is in a position of picking up people to his team, how many non-White engineers has he picked/suggested to Mercedes?

  3. When are we going to stop focusing all of these trivialities, LOL?

    1. NeverElectric
      16th July 2020, 22:02

      You can stop any time you want. Up to you.
      Others are not obliged to abide by your chosen topic of focus, so you do you, let them be them.

  4. I hope he continues to give this salute at races on other continents, that still to this day experience modern day slavery, otherwise it could look like virtue signalling by just doing it in the safety of European countries.

    1. How come this is the black power salute? It looks just like anyone elses exclamation of victory. Seen it 1000s of times

      1. Because Hamilton said it is a Black power salute?

  5. Hamilton is attempting to bring American race politics into F1. Not surprising given his close relationship with the US. And Liberty as a US company feels it needs to do the same so as not to dream the ire of other US media competitors as we saw with the hype from CNN about Ecclestone.

    But this is one step too far as ‘Black Power’ is now far from a power for equality, the original philosophy, but is often perverted and abused for political gain.

    It is worth remembering that many who support such ideologies of all races assume racism is white people discriminating against others and regard any discussion of black racism as ‘reverse racism’ as they believe there is only one racism, white against black.

    Hamilton should think a little more.

    1. Totally agree… Albon and Perez are minorities in this sport and probably received discrimination same as him. So making that salute undermines the message of equality.

    2. He is being given rope and will hang himself. He really isn’t coming across as particularly smart.

  6. Lewis is only black because UK systemic racism. Every other races who married with white would have their children called mixed. We should reject institutionalized discrimination against Hispanic, Asian and other people of colour.

  7. The BBC (Andrew Benson) quoted Lewis as saying the following after last Sunday’s race.

    “I have got black friends who have managed to go through life not having any particular abuse in their community. They have grown up in a black community. Whereas there are others like myself who grew up in a white community.”

    I’d be interested to hear what the abuse was and how frequent it was. We all suffer occasionally at the hands of others, usually verbal only. Children are the worst for seeking a chink in someones personal armour, is Lewis just getting one back for past slights, does he seriously regret going to what sounds like a typical middle class English school? George Floyd probably up in a community rather like Lewis’s friends did, it didn’t end well for him.

    “It is about understanding. And I’ve spent a little bit of time within the sport here talking to some of the drivers.”

    Understanding what exactly? He also claimed not to have pressurised other drivers, this suggests otherwise…

    “I don’t know whether they fully understand just how impactful their voices can be. Or some of them just don’t want to support Black Lives Matter but they stand for anti-racism. But it’s the same thing.”

    Can’t speak for others but I abide by a well known personal code of do unto others as you would have done to yourself. What Lewis or any other privileged celeb says makes zero difference to my approach to life, he’s dreaming if he thinks what racing drivers do off the track is important.

    “There are those who said they felt the Black Lives Matter movement seemed political and I’ve made it clear I am not supporting the political side of things; it’s the human rights side.”

    There’s a big debate going on as to where the funds donated to BLM actually end up. Nobody has come out and said directly that they don’t mainly go to funding far left politics. If you are fine with your cash going to a bunch of typically white millionaires seeking election, then carry on of course, it’s yours to do with as you will, but don’t imagine it’s all going to PoC.

    As to human rights, the most obvious one is a decent start to life with equal opportunity. BLM don’t even mention education in their manifesto, that’s how much they plan for the future of PoC. Given the same education PoC are actually at an advantage compared to ‘white’ people when competing for jobs, which leads to all the other life enhancing stuff.

    I can’t help feeling that despite all the trophies, the millions and the jetset lifestyle, inside Lewis is still the kid who had to battle past a few nasty classmates and wants to punish someone for it.

    1. NeverElectric
      16th July 2020, 22:06

      Cricketing Legend Michael Holding made much the same point: that, growing up in majority-African-ethnicity Jamaica, he did not really know what racism was. Playing for the Windies on tour in Australia, England etc, he did not experience any racism save for the tours to South Africa – where anti-African racism is the national sport of the Dutch settlers. But it was when he actually moved to LIVE in the UK that he began experiencing racism on a personal level – and so this just gels with what Lewis said.

      I can’t help feeling that despite all the trophies, the millions and the jetset lifestyle, inside Lewis is still the kid who had to battle past a few nasty classmates and wants to punish someone for it.

      Human nature. “Show them them that, despite their insults and their belittling comments, I am better than they said I could ever be, and I am above them and their heroes, and there’s nothing they can do about it.”
      Perfectly normal.

  8. We don’t talk about Monaco residents and etc..
    Just
    His killing at the hands of white police officers …there is two “whites” one Asian and one black (young offficer Kueng)
    In USA 12.3 % of Black population “have” 13% of THE FORCE
    Internal documents of PD show us that black policeman is more ready to use force against blacks.
    And you don’t hear for Tony Timpa, or just look one excellent movie (I know because he will be softer and more balanced to police) END OF WATCH
    Or think about that ..the 3 last genocides in Africa on black people was made by blacks
    When you don’t know this it’s not properly to said others ..that they are ignorant & UNDEREDUCATE
    And simply Lewis wasn’t Smith or Carlos , and his guest is more marketing than it have real power or message ..Why ? There is no any consequences for his kneeling and waving..
    And ..at the end I’m living in country where Mercedes subcontractors paying (white people) about 200 euros per month..without the right to sick leave

    Ciao Lewis

  9. Since the death of Floyd, over a dozen others have lost their lives as a direct result of the violence. Almost all of them black and none of the killed by law enforcement. They are all nameless, of course. This is why I disagree with anti racism as a black man, as it does nothing apart from divert attention away from where the actual problems are in favour of empty sloganeering, virtue signalling, with a healthy dose of corporate co-opting thrown in for good measure.

  10. Too much focus on this guy while F1 is pushing to end racism towards all minorities. Him standing there an doing the black lives matter salute undermines the message F1 wants to convey which is all lives matter… White, Black, Asian, etc… Let us not forget that there is Thai-British driver who probably received more or less discrimination as this black dude or a Mexican in a white dominated sport.

    If you want to end racism which is in reality impossible to do… Stop making this about the blacks and make it about all race… F1’s statement “End Racism” is strong enough, and making this salutes undermines the message of “equality”.

    1. The F1 message in most cases is being broadcast worldwide by Sky who top and tail and add their own message during the F1 broadcasts-which is BLM. So why is it that Hams BLM message causes so much offence; and the Sky message doesn’t. I can only assume that nobody on here gets their sports content from Sky or its affiliates.

    2. 100% agree, End Racism is a fantastic stand to make. BLM and Black Power salutes are not.

  11. How is every comment this critical? Like I know the F1 demographic is old and white and straight but jesus christ I’m embarrassed to be a fan sometimes. Nothing about BLM is for debate. Nothing.

    1. Ending racism by the minority who are racist is great, BLM as an organisation is definitely up for debate!

  12. Anyway … These people think that they solve a problem with this dimension by making gestures of this nature ….
    By the way, he is so proud, for making the gesture on the podium … forgot the same gesture he did at the demonstration in London!? !! Or maybe not, it hadn’t been the same media exposure …..

    1. @jason blankenship in south africa there are killings. Not racially based. But plain thievery and savagery against all races by people with little value for life. The few white farmers that are killed are drowned out by the many other racial groups murdered in south africa even black on black. Its a sad horrendous truth.

      1. Undoubtedly, a horrendous reality. But that is not new. Unfortunately, there are serious racial problems, of intolerance among human beings. But that to say, apparently they are not on the radar of these people “so concerned” with the subject of racism !!!

  13. Lewis, there’s someone named Neil Degrass Tyson – another black man like yourself, but one who is thoroughly disciplined about his profession, and doesn’t go off the radar at any given opportunity – and, he’s outspoken and thouroughly enjoyable to read and watch. You did a goood job, Lewis, to get most of the drivers to back you on the end racism initiative. I appreciate it, but don’t make a mess about it. You’re not a physicist, I know, but try to keep it down, because you are only a racing driver. I’ve never been a fan of you, because I like Tyson better. Shut up and drive!

    1. Lewis Hamilton is the Carl Sagan of Formula 1.

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