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Can’t stop thinking about how #AhmaudArbery case highlights the emptiness of universal claims of “jogging’s for everyone!”
The pastime + “the jogger” has been constructed as WHITE since the fad was born in 1960s/70s
A few reflections from my #fitnesshistory research /1
The pastime + “the jogger” has been constructed as WHITE since the fad was born in 1960s/70s
A few reflections from my #fitnesshistory research /1
Most trace US jogging craze to very white Oregon run culture, w coach/Nike founder Bill Bowerman a major promoter in late 60s
When I visited Nike HQ, I was struck by how glaringly WHITE early images of the run brand were before basketball became a major product line in 1980s /2
When I visited Nike HQ, I was struck by how glaringly WHITE early images of the run brand were before basketball became a major product line in 1980s /2
But like many Americans excited about an inexpensive workout that beat heart disease, Af-Ams took up jogging. I’ve found plenty of refs to Black jogging clubs in these years
Even brands got in on it. In 1982 Ebony, this ad featuring a couple competing over their 5mi jog pace/3
Even brands got in on it. In 1982 Ebony, this ad featuring a couple competing over their 5mi jog pace/3
But jogging was constructed as so white in mainstream culture that strange headlines like this one in JET 1979 – rejecting that white archetypal jogger – made sense given this context /4
But this new fitness pastime–and longstanding Af-Am excellence in sport of running – provided no reprieve from structural racism, even (especially?) against perceived interlopers on the open road
Black ppl have long been seen as a threat to joggers, even if joggers themselves/5
Black ppl have long been seen as a threat to joggers, even if joggers themselves/5
In 1980, a white supremacist enraged by the audacity of two Black men jogging w two white women killed them by sniper shooting
Reported in March 25, 1984, NYT/6
Reported in March 25, 1984, NYT/6
In a trope I see a LOT in 1980s press, African-American pub The Crisis describes race-class inequality in the US as typified by the (presumably white) yuppie jogger “disgusted” inconvenienced by the (presumably Black) homeless (1985)/7
Nothing solidified the notion of Black and Latino men as threats to “legitimate” white joggers than the hysteria over Central Park Jogger case in April 1989/8
This racist presumption proved durable: in Sep 1994, when a Black jogger FOILED a rape attempt in Central Park, media barely reported it+police minimized him as a “do-gooder” not a hero, the Amsterdam News reported, contrasting w rabid, ongoing coverage of Black perpetrators/9
What is notable is not just the cases of Jogging While Black that end up in tragedy/heroism, but offhand references like this one to the regular harassment Black people received for going about their business – ESPECIALLY "God forbid, jogging" (Michigan Chronicle, 1997)/10
There are *many* more historical examples of how "the jogger" has been a carefully constructed white ID+I hope that one outcome of the tragic murder of #AhmaudArbrey is attention to the racism of jogging culture in particular and of US society in general: THEY CANNOT BE SEPARATED
Just a few links of the growing body of excellent writing on this topic, that's teaching me a LOT:
@sociologistray @conversationUS re his research on the contemporary perils of running while Black is excellent https://theconversation.com/the-killing-of-ahmaud-arbery-highlights-the-danger-of-jogging-while-black-138085
@sociologistray @conversationUS re his research on the contemporary perils of running while Black is excellent https://theconversation.com/the-killing-of-ahmaud-arbery-highlights-the-danger-of-jogging-while-black-138085
This older @runnersworld piece that uses @Strava data to track the segregated run patterns of Baltimore - and those activists looking to change it - is really thoughtful https://www.runnersworld.com/runners-stories/a26131774/baltimore-segregated-strava-heatmap/
This quote in today's NYT, from @tibartoletta highlights the AMERICAN-NESS of lethal racism toward Black joggers/runners:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/08/sports/Ahmaud-Arbery-running.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/08/sports/Ahmaud-Arbery-running.html
And of course, the go-to essay on how running and gentrification went hand in hand, and not because a lot of individuals just decided to jogging was a cool way to get fit: this shift was STRUCTURAL
@dygottlieb @PublicSeminar https://publicseminar.org/2018/02/rat-race/
@dygottlieb @PublicSeminar https://publicseminar.org/2018/02/rat-race/
Since buried in replies/in my DMS is the related Q of "what about women?" who have also long faced danger when heading out to run, I'll link to this previous thread on that topic
Left that out of original thread so as not to distract from issue at hand https://twitter.com/nataliapetrzela/status/1032802838571876357?s=20
Left that out of original thread so as not to distract from issue at hand https://twitter.com/nataliapetrzela/status/1032802838571876357?s=20
