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Running Issues With Elizabeth Carey: On Race And Racism

Published by
DyeStat.com   Jun 2nd 2020, 4:38pm
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Black Track And Field Athletes Are Speaking Up. It's Time To Listen. 

By Elizabeth Carey for DyeStat

On the heels of the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd, among too many others, after centuries of oppression of Black people, protests churn around the globe this week. 

Black athletes are speaking out. In trying times, they’ve taken efforts to share their perspectives, educate, and provide resources. Today, we’re highlighting a few of their voices, plus listing some action steps. 

Because it’s beyond time the sport of track and field and the running industry listens — and steps — up. 

Tianna Bartoletta, Olympic gold medalist and World Champion sprinter and long jumper, wrote a poignant blog post after the killing of Arbery. She described her experience of running while Black — including a three-step survival protocol to not scare her neighbors. 

She wrote:

“And I don’t know what more to do, than what I’m doing to show and prove that my life has value.

When I have zero confidence that there would be any consequence if someone did harm me.

I have first hand experience for exactly how little the ‘system’ cared about me being victimized.

Yes, me. The Olympic Champion.

In my skin, I don’t hear the clinking of my gold medals, they aren’t badges of my value, or shields from racism.

I have earned the right to live because I live.

Earned the right to be authentically and fully myself.

I have earned the right to tie my go[d] damn shoes and go for a...run and know that I’ll return home safely. …

These are rights that I have earned, and don’t have.” 

Jasmine Todd, pro sprinter, jumper, and World medalist, shared what it’s like being a Black track athlete in the U.S. on social media. “We put the three letters...U S A… on our chest SO PROUDLY… for a country that doesn’t even like or respect US because of OUR skin,” she wrote. “ A country that statistically sets blacks up for failure. A country that kills us because of our skin color…” 

 

Noah Lyles, 200-meter World Champion, wrote, “It hurts my heart because as an athlete I love running for my country. But as a [h]uman being it is disheartening to know that my people are being killed while I go out and win me[d]als for them to try and make the U.S. look good.” He shared feeling hope at seeing people protesting together, but also feeling hurt “to see that there are so many people trying to undermine something that’s supposed to be peaceful and make it violent...When all we are asking for is to NOT BE KILLED!!!!”

 

Darrell Hill, Olympic shot putter, addressed his followers in a video, saying that when he watched the video of Floyd being murdered, he can only see himself. Of course, he’s a pro athlete, Olympian, business man, person of love and high character, he said, “but when you strip all the accolades, and all of the sport business, I’m a black man. I’m a black man first. A large black man at that. I can only think about what happens to me if I run into said officer who shares the same beliefs as this guy who decided he needed to exude excessive force.”

Hill continued, “What I’m asking today is stand with us...Stand with us. This is not a Black people problem. This is a world problem. This is not new. This has been going on for centuries, for years. It’s just been caught on camera now. So today I’m calling for all my non-Black followers and friends to stand with us. To no longer be on the outside...To understand that these things cannot be fixed—we cannot move forward — without the help of others.” 

As pop singer Rihanna said earlier in this long year, it’s time for white friends to “pull up.” As athletes, coaches, and fans of our sport, we don’t shy away from hard work. We — specifically white people — mustn't now, either. Especially looking ahead to an Olympic Games where any demonstration or protest has been prohibited by the International Olympic Committee (an intensely political body, BTW). 

Why, you ask? It turns out sports are political. Athletics are inherently political because they are about bodies, as sports historian Victoria Jackson said in an interview to me awhile back. Sports are about what bodies (and minds) can, cannot, and may do. Sports are about the relationships within a group or organization that allow particular people to have power over others. And white people have power and privilege afforded to them by systematic racism, in and beyond sport. 

Take running. As runner and author Mirna Valerio said recently in a webcast, “Running is a microcosm of all our societal ills and goodness.” So, too, is track and field. So, too, is cross country. 

People say running is democratic, that track and field is diverse. Sure. But those rosy pictures gloss over how bumpy the playing field is. They ignore the hurdles that athletes face in simply getting to the starting line or going out to jog a mile. Like our white-washed history, these narratives erase the head-starts that our society gives people (Ahem, white people like me) — think: benefit of the doubt from law enforcement, generational wealth, better health care. 

Bartoletta, alongside many Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPOC) have already outlined starting points. 

First, let’s give BIPOC appreciation, love, and support — tangibly and emotionally. 

ICYMI: Do NOT ask BIPOC to explain racism or to teach you about anti-racism; rather, turn to online resources, to anti-racism books, articles and podcasts, and your non-BIPOC friends and family. 

Bartoletta urged the following purposeful actions on her blog — great places to start affecting change:

1. Register to vote. If you’re not yet 18, make sure your household members register.

2. Mark your calendar with election dates and deadlines for mail-in ballots.

3. Identify and follow your local representatives, including the city, county, and state levels. Find their contact info so you can let them know what you expect when it comes to funding, policies, and more. 

All of us with a privileged leg up, including me: It’s time to look beyond the tips of our nose and turn our gaze inwards — deep into the darkest, creepiest, worst, messiest parts of ourselves. We may find righteousness, jealousy, rage, fear. We are imperfect, no? But also powerful and bold in the face of challenge. Let’s turn outward with action: behind and alongside BIPOC activists and advocates, who’ve been fighting for justice for a really, really long time. 

There’s no medal for doing the right thing. No prize for not killing anyone. No earthly reward for owning up to the atrocities of our ancestors and the perks we glean from white supremacy. 

There is the faith, belief, and hope, though. That doing the right thing matters. That we can make amends. That we will chisel a more just, less murderous, equitable existence. 

###

Elizabeth Carey is a freelance writer and running coach based in Seattle, Washington. Sign up for updates on her first book, GIRLS RUNNING, co-authored with Melody Fairchild, forthcoming from VeloPress.



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