Running for Ahmaud Arbery

Today I ran in honor of Ahmaud Arbery.

He was killed on my son’s birthday, February 23rd. Today his parent’s are grieving what would have been his 26th.

Since hearing about Ahmaud I haven’t been able to shake the thought, “what if that would have been Will?” Which leads me to both deep sadness and empathy for Ahmaud’s mother and the realization that that won’t be my son. Because my son is white.

There are so many things my son won’t have to consider merely because of the privilege his skin color gives to him. And I, as his mother, could choose to go on, doing little to change that.

But that's not who this mother is. I cannot go on. Ahmaud is our brother, made in the image of God, worthy of love, equality, and justice.

And so we will weep. We will pray. We will act.

I will teach my children that they are not better than anyone else. We will listen to the marginalized as equally valuable with those in power. We will give up our place where there is inequity. We will leverage our privilege for the benefit of others and not merely ourselves.

Today as I ran, I happened to be listening to Marshall Rosenberg's "Non-Violent Communication." So many times a sob caught in my throat. I have so much unlearning to do. This is a journey that is going to take me, and all of the white people, and all of the BIPOC community working in harmony to live out Jesus’ vision of us being one from John 17.

And so, for me and my family, we will continue to lament, unlearn, and

“…get up and turn again toward kindness,
Toward your neighbor in need,
Toward those who are still trapped in the stone.
Tell them, “I won’t give up.”
Tell them, “I am with you.”
Tell them, “For you, I will learn to eat rocks.”
“For you, I will keep chewing, keep grinding,
Until the mountain crumbles to dust.”

-Elizabeth Stevens

#irunwithmaud #ahmaudarbery #endracism #blacklivesmatter