Selma Boston Recap
Era of Fascism, racism, white supremacy, and WTF
Well, I was suppose to be in Selma to run leg 3, my 8 miler on our BGR Boston Relay team. I was going to be surrounded by 1000 black women who are apart of BGR nation and another 1000 men and women from around the country, running and riding their bikes to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act and the walk from Selma to Montgomery. In this moment in time, we were all going to be together in celebration, unity, joy, and resistance. There are no ones to express the amount of excitement of running the relay race this year. All eyes were on Montgomery.
Tuesday 10:01 a.m. the text I received from Jay “ Just fyi, Selma is canceled. Switching to virtual”.
My response “ WTF! Ugh. Thanks for the heads up”
Storms, Thunder and lightening were on the way. The race organizers, had sent emails, letting us know there were watching the weather. They said the race could be delayed or canceled. As I checked the weather, things were great Friday, Sunday but not Saturday- race day of course.
Tuesday, while on campus, I was trying to process the information, send information to my team, and deal with students and meetings that day. Talk about real life.
Personally, I wanted to be in space that our ancestors were in. I wanted to be in there space, to receive their spirit and energy of how to navigate the crazy and move forward.
I planned on visiting the legacy museum and visit the Civil Rights museum that racist DOGE and Musk want to sell off, which makes no sense.
In the process of working, I had to work fast with cancelling the flight, hotel, vans without be charged. We had a 48 hour window.
I was also bummed because I planned on interviewing runners. I wanted to hear their stories, their narratives of what running and running this race means to the folks that are here. Now, I have to rethink and pivot my survey and out reach.
Fast forward to today, Saturday the 15th when we would have been running. BMR Boston had a community run to remember Selma today. They have been doing this for four years. I decided to run my 8 mile leg today. 5 by myself and 3 with the group.
I ran and reclaimed the historical black spaces in boston. I would have done that Selma to Montgomery. The weather was not bad this morning. Overcast and muggy. I did see in the news in Alabama the destruction from the thunderstorms, lighting, wind, and tornado warnings.
I know it was a hard call to make. I appreciate the organizers for keeping us safe.
What people do not understand , the three attempts that were made to cross that bridge-Edmund Pettus Bridge or the lives that had to be loss before Dr. King came to Selma.
The speech Dr. King made 60 years when they reached the capital of Alabama is a speech he could have made yesterday.
Showing up today in Roxbury to run with everyone felt great. We all would have been in Selma together. Ironically, after Selma, the next place King came was Boston. It’s only fitting. Being in community and safe is still apart of black joy and black resistance.
