Descriptive Feature

The brisk air chilled the dominating statue on an uneven lawn in the quadrant of university buildings.

The aroma of freshly cut grass lingered in the breeze and the morning sun had yet to dry the mushy earth.

Tire tracks from the lawn mower coursed around the statue and stamped mud on a small peach-colored pavement on the statue's perimeter. 

Sapphire blue hexagonal tiles attracted passersby, while flickers of the sun's reflections retained their attention.

"Olympic Project for Human Rights," read the circular button on the frozen athlete's blue jacket, who was standing on the third place platform.

The dark faces with blank stares was permanently imprinted on the two athletes waiting for a reaction from an unknown crowd.

An empty second place platform emphasized the 1968 first and third place Olympic winners Tommie Smith and John Carlos.

Their black-gloved fists held up in the air during the anthem was a human rights salute, and their black ribbed shoeless feet represented black poverty.

The two teammates were once students at SJSU and were suggested to join the game boycott, among other black athletes, to highlight the injustices done to black Americans.

Their actions that once sparked controversy now remains at SJSU's campus on the perennial sculpture.