In 1968, at the Summer Olympic Games in Mexico City, San José State University runner Tommie Smith raised a gloved fist during the medal ceremony to protest human rights abuses around the world, and to bring international attention to the struggle for civil rights in the United States. This act of protest, which still reverberates today, is explored in a series of collaborations between Smith and Los Angeles–based conceptual artist Glenn Kaino. The exhibition includes monumental sculpture, print-based projects, and memorabilia from Smith’s personal collection that reflect his time as an athlete and civil rights activist.

With Drawn Arms: Glenn Kaino and Tommie Smith is sponsored by the San José Museum of Art's Exhibitions Fund with generous grants from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Applied Materials Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts, and contributions from McManis Faulkner, Tad Freese and Brook Hartzell, and Tech CU.

Programs at the San José Museum of Art are made possible by generous support from the Museum's Board of Trustees, a Cultural Affairs Grant from the City of San José, the Lipman Family Foundation, Yvonne and Mike Nevens, Facebook Art Department, the Richard A. Karp Charitable Foundation, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Yellow Chair Foundation, the SJMA Director's Council and Council of 100, the San José Museum of Art Endowment Fund established by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and The William Randolph Hearst Foundation.