RUN.

I was asked by a friend to join a running club for the month of June where our goal was to run 100 miles by the end of the month. I figured, why not? Anything to hold me accountable and keep my physical fitness on track…

There wasn’t a day that I ran that I didn’t think about Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor and how simply running around my city, minding my own business, could mean death because of the color of my skin. At first, it was hard. I looked over my shoulder way too much. I thought twice about every person I passed and each time I stopped running, I thought about whether or not someone would call the cops on the suspicious black “male” in their neighborhood. I kept running though. I turned those thoughts into fuel and somehow, by the end of the month, had run 100+ miles. 

I ran past fear. I ran past doubt. I almost ran past Pride month but then I remembered how proud I was to stand at the intersection of being black and queer. I remembered that I came here to stand out and that, with each step, I am blazing a trail for my younger siblings and everyone who looks like me. Suddenly, I was running farther and faster than I ever had before. 

I will keep running. I will keep steeping in my black queerness and use it to strengthen me for all the blessings that are coming my way. I will live my life to the fullest because I’m blessed to still be here and living in fear is not what my ancestors would want.

I will keep fighting for a better future and keep putting one foot in front of the other.