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Kamilah Journét Pushes Back Against Casual Racism

Published by
DyeStat.com   Jun 19th 2020, 3:14pm
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Black Female Distance Athlete Determined To Shift The Discussion In Running Community: ‘I’m Just Getting Started’ 

By Theresa Juva Brown for DyeStat

Can I feel your hair?

You’re the whitest Black girl I know. 

You’re not really Black.

Years later, Kamilah Journét, 28, still remembers the painful details of the racist remarks made to her when she was a cross country and distance runner at the University of California at San Diego. 

“My teammates were simply unaware of the impact of their words,” she recalled. 

“My teammates repeatedly expressed that I wasn’t ‘really Black,’ or that I was an ‘Oreo,’ a slur meaning that I was Black on the outside and white on the inside, or that I was ‘the whitest Black girl they knew.’ These remarks came from those who I considered my friends.

“I was once asked if my braids felt like ‘real hair,’ and before I could answer, my teammate was touching me as she exclaimed, 'Oh no, it definitely doesn’t!’”

After graduating from college in 2013, Journét continued to run — and encounter prejudice based on her skin color. When she told a new friend or colleague that she ran competitively in college, many assumed that because she is Black, she must have been a sprinter. 

“This happened so frequently that I stopped mentioning that I had run track at all,” said Journét, who completed the Montaña de Oro 36K Trail Run in Los Osos, Calif. last year.

“I would share that I ran cross country in college and leave it at that.”

These distressing “microaggressions” — judgements from a white friend or colleague, sometimes said flippantly, about her identity as a Black woman — happen all too frequently.

But it’s time to make them stop, she said. 

After the horrific deaths of Ahmaud Arbery — a Black runner killed by two white men in Georgia in February, and George Floyd — a Black man killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minn. last month —  Journét is speaking out, sharing her personal experiences and urging people to acknowledge that racism permeates all facets of life in the United States. 

“These months have been absolutely exhausting,” said Journét, who recently marched in a Black Lives Matter protest in Ventura, Calif.

“This movement will take a sustained effort over a long period of time. I'm just getting started.”

Last month, Journét wrote a powerful essay titled Your Black Teammate,” as a member of Tracksmith's Hare A.C., a global running community. 

Journét, a marketing specialist in the outdoor business — one of the few Black women in the industry — implored runners to do more than run for a hashtag on social media. 

“Do your own research on the systems in place that lead to injustice,” she wrote. “Then do the actions necessary to leave a lasting positive impact on your community. Make a difference. Your Black teammate is begging you.”

Running friend Stephanie Hillman is taking Journet’s message to heart. 

“I recognize this is an extremely painful time for Kamilah and for Black Americans,” said Hillman, who is white and met Journet when they were both working in the outdoor industry.

“My goal is to continue to be a calm, listening ear, a shoulder to lean on, a running buddy when there’s frustration to get out,” and be someone who takes a stand against racism. 

Although they’ve been running together for several years, Hillman said she didn’t know the extent of Journét’s difficult experiences as a Black collegiate distance runner until recently. 

“I can honestly say that I never asked her about it, and that’s an example of my white privilege,” Hillman said.

Listening to her friend’s experiences and learning about the Black Lives Matters movement, Hillman has been thinking a lot about how distance running communities can reach more Black runners. 

“A big step would be to spend more time educating the entire running community of the challenges, obstacles and barriers that Black women face in the outdoors and in distance running,” she said, including safety, lack of access to trails and racial stereotypes that Black runners should be sprinters. 

At a local level, running teams need to ask themselves hard questions about whether they are truly embracing runners of color. 

“Black runners aren’t just going to come pouring in because you ask them to,” Journét said. “Connect with the communities around you, strike up a conversation, go out of your way. Make this a priority.”

Hillman said she has no doubt Journét will inspire lasting, positive change in the running world and beyond. 

“A lot of people think of Kamilah the runner as fast and strong,” she said, but “I also think of Kamilah the person as just as determined and strong.”



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