“Let him begin by treating the Patriotism … as part of his religion. Then, let him, under the influence of partisan spirit, come to regard it as the most important.” (C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters)
Edward P.J. Corbett, in The Rhetoric of the Open Hand and the Rhetoric of the Closed Fist, argued for a seismic shift in the meaning of two of the most iconic metaphors in literature — the open hand and the closed fist.
During the Renaissance, the closed fist symbolized the rational discourse of the philosopher; the open hand portrayed the relaxed, expansive, ornamental discourse of the orator.
In the 17th century, Descartes’ Discourse on Method divorced logic from rhetoric, thus ingraining the closed fist as logical, rational and truthful. The open hand represented rhetoric in both its learned and popular discourse.
In the 1960s, Corbett said: “I see the two metaphors now as having taken on a new tenor. The open hand might be said to characterize the kind of persuasive discourse that seeks to carry its point by reasoned, sustained, conciliatory discussion of the issues. The closed fist might signify the kind of persuasive activity that seeks to carry its point by nonrational, nonsequential, often non-verbal, frequently provocative means.”
I will argue the open hand and the closed fist have changed meanings again in 2024. In the 1960s, the closed fist of two Black athletes symbolized protest against racial oppression. In 2024, the closed fist symbolizes the protest of whiteness against too much diverse color.
“In 2024, the closed fist symbolizes the protest of whiteness against too much diverse color.”
Add the American flag — red, white and blue — to the antagonism of Black and white, and you have a movement of white power.
You get insecure whites shouting, “You will not replace us.” You get paranoia over an influx of immigrants in a country of immigrants. You get white people attempting to be “victims” — of persecution, reverse racism, political correctness and “wokeness.”
As historian David Blight observes, “‘Replacement theory’ works well alongside a thousand repetitions of ‘Critical Race Theory,’ both disembodied of definition or meaning, but both scary. Liberals sometimes invite scorn with their devotion to diversity training and insistence on fighting over words rather than genuine inequality. But it is time to see the real enemy — a long-brewing American-style neo-fascist authoritarianism, beguilingly useful to the grievances of the disaffected and threatening to steal our microphones midway through our odes to joy.”
In the cauldron of colors, we are in the fight of our lives: Black, white, red and blue. Throw in the rainbow flag, and you have a war over flags being waged on multiple fronts.
When you mix race colors with red, white and blue, the mixture becomes potent, even poisonous. The protests of Black athletes always have met with a deep-seated racism — unspoken but pervasive. The “red, white and blue” crowd insists race has nothing to do with the issues. The Black athletes protest racial violence, lack of civil rights and oppression.
Black athletes have been castigated by mainstream media for engaging in protests. Jackie Robinson, Major League Baseball’s first Black player, wrote weekly columns and books encouraging Black empowerment and engaged citizenship. Muhammad Ali used the boxing ring and press conferences as spaces to contest racial hegemony and encourage Black power.
Tommie Smith and John Carlos
On Oct. 16, 1968, extending gloved hands skyward in a Black power salute as a form of racial protest, U.S. athletes Tommie Smith, center, and John Carlos stare downward during the playing of the National Anthem after Smith received the gold and Carlos the bronze for the 200 meter run at the Summer Olympic Games in Mexico City. (AP Photo)
Corbett argues the “open hand and closed fist” metaphors underwent a metamorphic transformation when Tommie Smith and John Carlos defiantly raised their gloved fists to protest racial injustice at home during a medal ceremony at the 1968 Olympics.
The athletes received harsh criticism within mainstream sports reportage. People called Smith and Carlos “black-skinned storm troopers” and unpatriotic. Black athlete activism cast doubt on the notion sports was egalitarian and meritorious, providing a model for racial progress. Black athletes’ involvement in politics was a disruptive and unwelcomed experience for many people.
The closed fists raised to the heavens by Black athletes reminds us a trope is not merely a stylistic ornament, but a linguistic strategy used to speak truth to power. Harold Bloom argues meaning occurs as part of struggle with previous meaning. In my understanding of this power of metaphor, Smith and Carlos are strong poets, developing a sense of meaning over against the previous meanings of their ancient precursors.
Bloom employs the term “clinamen” as necessary to any new meaning ascribed to an existing metaphor. Clinamen describes the “swerve” of atoms that occurs to make change possible in the universe. Smith and Carlos swerved away from the previous meaning of the open hand and closed fist and thus executed a clinamen in relation to it.
Smith and Carlos provided Americans with a new kind of knowledge, a defense from the literal meaning of the “closed fist.” The literal meaning of “rational discourse” and the powerful presence of literal meaning for centuries are equivalent to death; they maintain the status quo of the “power.” People continue to groan under racial oppression, and in this Olympic moment, two Black athletes made new communication possible, but only at a price.
At the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington, August 26, 2023, in Washington, D.C., a Black Lives Matter supporter shows support with a raised fist for Black power while holding a BLK flag. (Photo by Roderious Phillips © 2023 Baptist News Global)
Civil Rights Movement
The clenched black-gloved fists later became a powerful symbol of the Civil Rights Movement. At the time, the symbol called attention to ongoing issues in America over integration and the lack of equality still suffered by African Americans. In this case, the clenched fist was more about “Let my people go” than anything else.
The aura of “Black power” frightened white Americans. The reaction to the new meaning of the closed fist was swift, predictable and unrelenting. Some authorities thought the integrity and sacredness of the Olympic games had been blasphemed. The U.S. Olympic Committee suspended both athletes and issued an apology to the International Olympic Committee. Sportswriters either refused to cover the story or condemned Smith and Carolos. The American press gave an overwhelmingly negative tone and context to their coverage of the protest.
“Black power was not ultimately about violence. Nor was Black power anti-patriotic.”
One makes the momentous decision to “swerve” the arc of justice, the course of the status quo, the ongoing racism of the world at a huge cost.
Critics of Black athletes fail to note one reality: Black power was not ultimately about violence. Nor was Black power anti-patriotic. The raised, closed Black fists were symbols of dissent and were prophetic. They were visual truth-speakers addressing the oppression of the status quo. The purpose of the dissent was to make America great and to help America fulfill the promise embedded in our Bill of Rights: “All men are created equal.”
Josiah Cross as Lt. Richard D. Macon in “Masters of the Air.”
Making America truly great
I still believe America possesses the courage, the saltiness to speak truth to power. We never will be politically united, and the cries for uniformity are the cries of idolatry.
The Christians who want to align all our national stars with a nation born of Christianity, a nation baptized in evangelical faith and a nation that can do no wrong are leading us astray, away from our founding principles. “A nation in consensus is a nation ready for the grave,” Barbara Tuchman wrote. Love of country never should be the same as blind obedience.
In one of the most moving scenes in the recent series on World War II bomber pilots, a Tuskegee Airman who had been taken prisoner explained to his Nazi captor why he fought for the United States. The German interrogator asked, “Why do you fight for a country that treats you like that?” Lt. Richard D. Macon answered: “Do you know any country that is better? I know what my country’s shortcomings are. And I know it’s trying hard to become what it says it’s supposed to be. And when I get back, I’m going to help them do it a lot faster.”
When you frame the protests of Black athletes in the context of making America greater, helping America live up to its ideals, you have a different response to the closed fist.
What if the actions of Black proponents of civil rights were prophets without honor in their own country? Instead of promoting Black power, they were seeking justice and righteousness. Instead of a race war, they were crying out for justice to roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
Uncritical lovers are patriots with narrow minds, goals and prejudices. They have deep insecurity about any criticism of America. They lack an appreciation for the real power of democracy — dissent. A true patriot fights for the right of minorities to dissent in powerful, metaphoric and disturbing ways.
Prophets
Choosing the method, the mode, the symbol of protest challenges any person determined to make a prophetic statement. Prophets always have used symbols as carriers of God’s truth.
“Metaphors are the disturbers of the status quo.”
Metaphors are the disturbers of the status quo. They produce new meanings. Jarring, startling images, they demolish old ideas. People find metaphors unsettling. Some hearers tried to throw Jesus off a cliff.
Prophets disturb our comfort zones. Prophets demolish our safe world of prejudices. Prophets shake us out of easy conformity where we go along with everyone else in injustice. Prophets shame our hypocrisies and dismiss our facile commitments.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) gestures toward a crowd of supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol to protest the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s electoral college victory Jan. 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC. (Francis Chung/E&E News and Politico via AP Images)
‘White Power’
Ironically, the closed fist has changed sides and colors again in 2024. American white people never needed to raise the clenched fist of “white power” because white people always have been the power in America.
With the sense of whites being an “embattled” and “victimized” race, instead of a nonverbal dissent from racism and oppression, the closed fist now represents white rebellion against liberal culture.
The primary icon of this new use of an ancient metaphor? Donald Trump’s raised and closed fist as the Secret Service rushed him from the stage after the assassination attempt. Trump, his face bloodied, raised his fist to the air and shouted, “Fight, fight, fight!”
Now, we’re witnessing a counter-protest against the prophetic word — the protest of white power. The insecurity of white people fills the hearts and minds of the MAGA movement.
We saw the same sign from Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley on January 6. That was his sign of solidarity with those who were ransacking the U.S. Capitol even as he fled the scene.
“The iconic image of Trump shaking his raised, clenched fist to the air while shouting, ‘Fight, fight, fight’ will live forever in MAGA hearts.”
Now, the iconic image of Trump shaking his raised, clenched fist to the air while shouting, “Fight, fight, fight” will live forever in MAGA hearts. His bloodied face will elicit even more comparisons to Jesus. One MAGA fan predicted, “The picture of Trump, bloodied and unbowed, just won the election.”
No one watching the drama unfold on television thought of Trump’s clenched fist as a metaphor for rational discourse. He never has been a fan of the rational, the reasonable and the deliberative. He is a demolisher, a user of hyperbole, lies, incoherent claims and threats of revenge. He is a walking “bomb” of destruction.
The emotional content of his clenched fist and the words looked, sounded and felt like a declaration of war. “Fight, fight, fight!” are but repetitions of Trump’s January 6 speech: “Fight like hell!” His followers cried in response, “Fight for Trump!”
Trump’s closed fist offers no hope for America to aspire to her better angels and her high ideals. But the Spirit of the Lord was upon Olympic sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos. To these prophets we can add Muslim NBA basketball player Chris Jackson, who chose the name Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf; NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick; and NBA star LeBron James.
I believe they were wounded for this nation’s transgressions, bruised for America’s iniquities, and the burden of Black people and white people and all people were upon their shoulders. And because they were prophets, everybody can stand a little taller, walk the earth with a little more dignity.
Rodney W. Kennedy is a pastor and writer in New York state. He is the author of 10 books, including his latest, Good and Evil in the Garden of Democracy.
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