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Running While Black
I’ve been running again. After having COVID-19 the second time it really knocked the wind out of my sails again. I truly just hope my body gets used to having it. I could write a whole other piece about how the government doesn’t care and how my life is in danger but that is apparent so I’m just shrugging and crying and over that point.
But I am blessed to be able to run again. I have however decided tp stop running at my local gym. I feel like all of us breathing in gym air in and out might be a COVID-19 incubator so I’m deciding to run around my neighborhood.
Most of the time when I am running in my neighborhood I see people of all races but not black people. I see white men mostly, in their mid to late twenties running in the streets throwing caution to the wind. I see slow running elders on the sidewalk, people of color running in groups but rarely do I see black people running.
My neighborhood is one where the majority is latinx and black and I do wonder why I see my neighbors running but not my skinfolk.
When I ask myself why this is happening in my neighborhood I think about my own reasons for not running through there. I think about how I feel when I see those folks who are gentrifying my neighborhood running. I honestly feel defeated. I feel like these are their streets to run. I think about violence as a black person due to recent events. I think about Ahmaud Arbery who was murdered by white people while running recently. I think about violence being done to me as a woman. I think about animal encounters. I think about not seeing anyone who looks like me feeling free enough to enjoy the beauty of running on something that isn’t a machine. The fear that we feel on a daily basis robs us of the basic right to enjoy the freedom of our feet hitting the pavement.
I used to feel that freedom in cross country when I would run in school. I would feel alive and liberated. I loved cross country more than track because it always felt like an adventure. Especially when we would run at white schools in suburban neighborhoods. At the time those areas were blocked off and no one could get in. We would run through the woods which had a designated path.
I remember one cross country meet I forgot I was even competing. I looked up at these giant Redwoods all around me…
