“I’m reading the whole Bible and I got to Exodus with Moses, ‘Let my people go’ and all that stuff. They wandered the wilderness for 40 years, the Bible says. You can take that as an analogy or it might mean something. I take it as literally 40 years. Are y’all ready to go through this for 40 years? The marathon is going to be a long time. Are you ready to get to the promised land of Black lives mattering that might take us 40 years to go to…Most of the people that left Egypt didn’t get to see the promised land but they went through all the madness. I’m asking everyone who is posting the squares and talking the talk, ‘Are you ready to maybe not even see the goal of all this? Are you ready to just be a part of the change?’ Because I am. If I don’t see that promised land, I’m OK because I know that I helped lead the way for my nieces because I don’t have kids right now. I want a better day for them. I want a better day for my friends who have kids. I want them to have the greatest world possible. We gotta keep hope alive.” – Richard Issa

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As we continue our discussion about race and sport, Matt Meyer and I decided to bring on our friend Richard Issa Bockari. He heads the Issa Run Crew in Philadelphia. He shares his experiences in the running community from the perspective of a Black runner in the middle of the pack and among the amateurs – where it is very often white. On Global Running Day, he invited a few members from his run crew to join him in a protest run but instead, they marched and then took a knee in the middle of a Philadelphia intersection for a moment of silence that lasted nine minutes.

In this episode, he discusses the conversations he’s having with members of his running community, questions people should be asking themselves and how we can all be allies in the Black Lives Matter movement.

▶ Follow Richard on Instagram.

He gave his phone number on the podcast so if you want to talk to him, call or text him at (609) 902-7354

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