They are the lost souls of protest, nearly five decades on from an act that was both misunderstood and reviled in its own time and largely forgotten or ignored since, even as it becomes more historically relevant by the day. They were two young Black American athletes – Vince Matthews from New York City and Wayne Collett from Los Angeles, more alike than the distance between their homes, yet different in ways that had defined their pasts, and would shape their futures. They were both fast, both strong. And fearless. Most of all, fearless. They ran the 400 meters, after all, and the track and field event they call the quarter (-mile) is not for the meek. The race of their lives was the 1972 Olympic 400 meter final in Munich, Germany ( West Germany, at the time). At 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 7, eight runners pushed away from starting blocks and staggered halfway around the first turn of the rust-colored, all-weather track. Matthews was in lane two, wearing high white socks; … [Read more...] about Remembering a Forgotten Protest: Vince Matthews, Wayne Collett and the 1972 Munich Olympics