Today is one of my most favorite days of the year. It’s Marathon Monday, otherwise known as Patriot’s Day in Boston. I had the privilege of running three Boston Marathons, as a part of a team of runners @tuftsuniversity raising money for medical and nutrition research. I ran in 2005, 2006 and 2013. My last year running the Boston Marathon, I did not get to finish as that was the year that two domestic terrorists decided to wreak havoc at the finish line by planting bombs that detonated amongst numerous spectators and runners at the finish line.
I’ll never forget that day. I had trained with three of my roommates/teammates to run that year. I had high hopes that I would be able to qualify for Boston, at Boston, by running a sub-3-hour and 40-minute marathon. I had come close in 2005, running a 3:41:20.
In 2013, at mile 25, as I was painfully striding the last mile, having passed the iconic #CITGO sign and with the finish line only a mile away, I heard my Father-in-Law cheering me on from the throng of people that had just gotten out from the #RedSox game. It still surprises me that I heard him. Of course, knowing I was outside the range of being able to make the 3:40 cutoff, I jaunted over to him and gave him a big hug before returning to the course.
As I painfully bounded down Hereford Street, and hung a Louie around the corner to Boylston street, I heard a loud ::crack::. I, like many, thought it was ceremonial fireworks. Imagine the shock and devastation and fear that struck when I turned the corner to a bevy of people rushing my way, some bloodied and all of them wearing absolute looks of terror on their faces.
Soon, a line of policemen formed a human blockade, prohibiting a lot of very pissed off runners from progressing toward the finish line (after running 26-miles with that as the singular goal in their mind). I solemnly turned around, called my brother to let him know I was ok and to spread the word, and trudged (still painfully) back to the apartment that @mattplitch and I shared in Cambridgeport. Whew, that was a close call. Who knows…had I not stopped to hug @benyoe, or run a tad faster, or a tad slower. All so hard to say. Closecall, for sure.
The days following were traumatic, as the terrorists were on the loose in my neighborhood. I shouldn’t have listened to the police scanner tracking their every movement. MIT police office Sean Collier was killed by these men less than a mile from our apartment. I’ll never forget the email I received in the days after from one of my best friends, @secrispin, about her carpool buddy, Pat. Pat and his wife Jess both lost their legs in the bombing.
Today, we’re in the midst of another close call. We are witnessing white supremacy and a very dangerous kind of domestic terrorism on our streets, in our classrooms, and at our workplaces. It’s called Racism. I’ve had this fundraiser for @advancingjustice_aajc up for nearly a month. Three days short, to be exact. And @instagram lets users have fundraisers up for 30 days. If you haven’t donated, I want to ask you Why.
If I have 200 friends/followers, and if each of you donated $10 for each year of life that you experienced some sort of privilege, we’d be at the goal of $10k by now. Which would be really rad. And important for this organization doing really important work. Thank you to the 63 people who have already donated.
But ya know what? I don’t think we can can get to the $10k goal. Because I think we’re not collectively there yet. Collectively where, you may be asking? Collectively in a place where YOU take it as personally as I do that people die innocently in our streets, in their hearts and souls, in our classrooms, and as our fellow colleagues every single day because racism is not your (white) problem, it’s our (Black, Brown, Yellow) problem.
Toni Morrison once said — “White people have a very, very serious problem, and THEY should start thinking about what THEY can do about it. Take ME out of it.”
I hope all my White and privileged friends will take this cause on as their own. I don’t believe we’re there yet. I waiting (three more days) for you to prove me wrong. You can donate at the link in my Instagram account (@theangieplitch).
Happy Patriot’s Day, America. #everybodyversusracism #bostonstrong
