As Nation Convulses in Fury and Anguish, Teetering on Brink of Race War and Totalitarianism, Man Tells Runner’s World to Stick to Running
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Amid a backdrop of long-festering rage and desperation over law enforcement’s treatment of African-American men—a centuries-old problem that seems as intractable as it is pervasive, and that has sparked mass protests across the nation—a local Runner’s World reader has told the publication to “stick to running.”
Wyatt Mann, 31, a runner and stock analyst, left the comment in response to a Runner’s World article, shared on Twitter, titled “Take a Stand for George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and Black Lives Right Now.”
“What does this have to do with running?” Mann wrote, in what apparently was his first and only reaction to the subject, an historic inflection point that Mann’s children and grandchildren, if he ever has any, will read about in history books decades from now.
The subject of racial inequity, as the scale, scope, and intensity of the protests makes plain, runs deep and permeates every aspect of American life, including running, although most white Americans until now have been able to mostly ignore it.
“STICK TO RUNNING,” Mann added.
One of the people mentioned in the Runner’s World headline, Ahmaud Arbery, a black man jogging through a mostly white neighborhood in Georgia, was chased and confronted by two white men and fatally shot by one. Investigators essentially buried the case, until video of the incident went viral.
While Mann typed his comment from the living room of his suburban two-bedroom condo, news sources reported that the man who fatally shot Arbery, Travis McMichael, uttered "f****** n*****" after killing him.
Reached for comment, Mann said he’s “not a racist,” that all lives matter, and that he had a black roommate in college.
“But when I follow a running website, I want to hear about running,” he said. “Not other stuff.”
“It’s bullshit.”
As of this writing, Mann was home playing video games and listening to Spotify as millions of other Americans cried out against systemic racism; chanted that black lives matter; and wondered whether a bloody mass crackdown by anonymous federal soldiers would come, and if so, whether our fragile democracy could survive it.
