Before going for a jog every now and then, Akeem Baker makes sure he is wearing something small. He sets a known course through neighborhoods where he is known. And he looks up to the sky and nods to his best friend, Ahmaud Arbery.
The ritual is painful for Baker. He finds it disturbing that he is forced to follow a checklist of precautions reserved only for black runners to maintain his safety. It hurts too, because it was the tragic murder of Arbery – his friend since they were 6 years old – in Brunswick, Georgia, a year ago, that led to the security measures, which he did not enforce before February 23.
“I used to run for health reasons,” says Baker, a Morehouse College graduate in 2016. “Now I’m running for a sense of therapy, like I’m pursuing some kind of freedom.”
Baker’s life and inspiration for running changed when Arbery’s sister called him while he was in New York the night her brother was chased in a pickup truck, shot and killed on a run. Two white men are awaiting trial. A third man, who was also arrested, recorded the shooting via cell phone video.
“Since February 23, 2020, I’ve been thinking about my boyfriend and praying that his life wasn’t in vain,” said Baker. He met Arbery on an elementary school bus and they became fast friends for 20 years.
He said he was “dumbfounded” to read a text message from Arbery’s sister, who shared what she had been told at the time – the false information that Arbery had broken into someone’s home and was killed. “I cried all night in the bathroom,” Baker said. ‘I was devastated. And I’m still confused. ‘
Father and son Gregory and Travis McMichael chased Arbery, who had stopped during his jog to wander around a house under construction in their neighborhood, prosecutors say.
The image is stuck in the brains of black runners speaking to NBC News: Arbery, 25, tripping before falling to the ground after being shot.
“His tragic death changed everything for black runners,” said Kevin O. Davis, a member of the Plano Running Club in Texas who has 2,000 members, almost all of whom are white. I’ve changed everything. I’ve seen people in their cars slow down while I run and look at me in their rearview mirror to make sure I’m not robbing their home. I’ve come across white ladies yelling just because they see run me by them.
One time, when I stopped running for a light, this white guy rolled down his window and sprayed insecticide on my face – for no reason. I thought I was going blind.
“But Ahmaud Arbery is something else, something horrifying. So I don’t jog as often when it’s dark, and when I do, I make sure to wear reflectors. I’m nervous about running in black jogging clothes,” he said. . ‘It is all different. We have to be self-aware. ‘
Black female joggers similarly make adjustments for safety, said Buffalo ‘s Kim Backey. Backey, an avid runner who takes to the streets even in the snow, took Arbery’s murder as a sign to change her jogging patterns.
“We, as black runners, have to worry about what we’re wearing and where we’re going,” said Backey, 55. “I’m wearing more bright colors now. I told my sons not to wear hoodies because they will be judged Now I have to follow my own advice when I go out, and that’s a shame.
“We have to run smart, but at the same time because of our race we should not give up our freedoms,” she said.
With that in mind, and with Arbery’s mind in mind, the 2:23 Foundation was established last year to raise awareness of the shooting and to advocate for “helping young men and women follow pathways to similar events and instances. to help prevent injustice ”. The group, which has more than 82,000 followers on Facebook, has scheduled a 2.23-mile national race in memory of Arbery on the anniversary of this death.
Tyrone Irby, owner of The Choice Fitness and Sports Performance Center in Durham, North Carolina, has memories that help him understand the anxiety Arbery felt a year ago. Irby said growing up in Brooklyn, New York, two white youths chased him after he missed his bus home from school. “They yelled at me as I ran,” he said. ‘I ran fast enough to avoid them. But I remember the fear I felt and can only imagine what Ahmaud felt.
“As black runners, we need to have eyes in the back of our minds. It’s part of being black in America. It’s sad to think every day we have to think about the shoes we wear, the times we run, the colors we choose. where we run. And now, during a pandemic, wearing a mask, wearing a hoodie, running at 6 in the morning … it can be problematic. “
But it hasn’t stopped Irby and others from staying on the sidewalk and raising awareness about Arbery’s death. He created #TogetherWeStandNC, a group that generates discussions about race, with the murder of Arbery as the conversation starter.
A member of the massive social media group #RunWithMaud, Irby has dedicated more than 100 runners to a new run in Arbery’s memory – the Maud 2.23 virtual run on Tuesday 23 is sponsored by Fleet Feet Carrboro, a Durham-based apparel company.
Everyone should be safe when they run. But that’s not the case, ”said Irby.
He added, “When I leave the house at 3:00 AM, I have my license plate ready in my car, ID ready, and driving the speed limit. Now we need to take similar precautions when we run. “Every day is an emotional toll we have to pay to be black. We have to be aware of it. It’s a bad way to live.”
For Dr. Terrell Holloway, a black psychiatrist at Yale University, Arbery’s murder will resound.
“It’s fascinating because we think of trauma and stress in soldiers in a combat situation,” Holloway said. “But what about the stress of … what happened to Ahmaud Arbery? It’s about how you handle a situation that affects you. But the fact that black people have cases like that and have thoughts that” it could happen to you “speaks to the prominence of racism.”
Baker said the trauma from Arbery’s death prompted him to seek advice. Every two weeks, he visits a therapist to help him cope. “There have been many,” he said. Kobe Bryant “died on my birthday – I was a huge fan. Less than a month later, my best friend is killed. Ahmaud was my go-to person.”
Augustus Turner, 37, an army major stationed in Madison, Alabama, wrote about the psychological trauma of Arbery’s murder in a Facebook post that went viral. It read in part, ‘Sometimes, in the back of my mind, I think foolishly to myself, I’m just a black man jogging!
“Why would anyone shoot me just for being black and unknown? I am a former EMT … I have been a licensed attorney and active military officer for nine years. I have represented and helped more than 60 victims of sexual assault … I helped justify the destruction of hundreds of enemy targets in Iraq I cleared the names of wrongly convicted criminals Who would want to hurt me?
“Well, none of that matters, because … I’m still a black man jogging. If I scare the wrong white person, or match the description of a threatening person … I’m no different from Ahmaud Arbery. “
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Turner said he had no intention of posting about the shooting. But then he saw the video.
“I could only look at it once,” he said. ‘We have to be careful not to get killed just for jogging … it takes another piece of our lives. We have to live in constant fear or be on our guard. I took seriously my wife’s concerns that I would run alone. She always has this fear. So now I make it a point to take my family for a walk in the neighborhood so that people can see that I am a husband and a family man and not a threat. Maybe they will remember me. Perhaps. ‘
Backey, who cried watching the video of the shooting, said: “As a runner, I understand how Ahmaud stopped and looked into a house under construction. That’s what we do – we take in our surroundings. freedom. I recently took a different route on my flight and I stopped and thought of Ahmaud. And I said, “Let me get out of here.” It shouldn’t be. “
And yet few runners expect it to be any different anytime soon. Arbery’s life and especially his death will resonate for some time to come.
“Ahmaud and I ran together a lot,” said Baker. “He kept a better pace than me, but he always encouraged me and pushed me to go faster. He might have dark skin, but he was the brightest light. His smile and energy were always bright. And we have to go for it. make people always know that. “
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