Always Blaming Whitty.: Joe Gray Wants to Tackle Distance Running’s Diversity Problem

"How many times has Runner’s World put black distance runners on its cover in the past several years? Eleven times in the past five years by my count, which includes comedian Kevin Hart (twice), Keflezighi, the Breaking2 runners, an influencer, and fitness models."

Wow. Runner's World?

Runner's Gated Community, more like it...

(I'm not racists, look, I have five black friends on my cover. Five times in 120 issues! See? NOT racist)

How many blacks do you know that jog/run recreationally? I only know 2 or 3 in my running club. There's nothing stopping them from coming out and jogging with us. It's more of a cultural thing than what SJWs try to make it out to be. Sad.

How is it her fault?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_Whitty

why do i subscribe wrote:

"How many times has Runner’s World put black distance runners on its cover in the past several years? Eleven times in the past five years by my count, which includes comedian Kevin Hart (twice), Keflezighi, the Breaking2 runners, an influencer, and fitness models."

Wow. Runner's World?

Runner's Gated Community, more like it...

(I'm not racists, look, I have five black friends on my cover. Five times in 120 issues! See? NOT racist)

Jumping to defend black accusations of racism doesn't make you a good person.

Comment at the link in OP:

"I'm not sure that the number of black runners on RW covers is a problem. Eleven covers in five years is about 18%, and African-Americans are about 13% of the total U.S. population. I'm not a current subscriber, but over the several years I subscribed I think there were more covers with African-Americans than with Hispanics, who make up a larger share of the population. Regardless, good for Joe Gray and his efforts!"

Why think about race? wrote:

How many blacks do you know that jog/run recreationally? I only know 2 or 3 in my running club. There's nothing stopping them from coming out and jogging with us. It's more of a cultural thing than what SJWs try to make it out to be. Sad.

Exactly. Joe Gray isn't being honest with his own chip on his shoulder and jealousy of the white community.

If he was comfortable in his own skin he would simply try to encourage young blacks to run.

He knows that he wouldn't be successful in that effort.

Kilian could cry about his lack of fame too, and if he was black and self-loathing, he probably would play the race card about it.

If Joe Gray was self-aware, and high character, he would just admit to himself that nobody gives a crap about his entire oddball weirdo irrelevant sport of trial running.

Remote control race car "athletes" probably wish they were more famous too.

Cry me a river.

African American participation in distance running, including numerous organized groups such as Black Girls Run, seems to be on the increase, which is a good thing both for increased competition and improvements in health and life expectancy. There hasn't been much of a culture of running among African Americans, many of whom live in the south--where it is tough to run much of the year and the sport's unpopular or was unpopular--and in urban areas with limited placed to run. Part of this, however, is from cultural worries, white fear of blacks on the move. Why there are insecure whites out there talking about genocide from non-whites moving into their areas is beyond me. Genocide is the intentional killing of a people. Black people moving into your neighborhood is only giving you a sense that you are not the only people in the world. All this use of false and demeaning names for black people is somehow tolerated by the mods on this website. Get out into the world and meet people and stop hiding behind your computer spreading conspiracy theories.

So basically he's saying that there aren't many African American trail runners, and he'd like it if there was more encouragement for black kids to try running. That seems pretty reasonable.

Elvin wrote:

So basically he's saying that there aren't many African American trail runners, and he'd like it if there was more encouragement for black kids to try running. That seems pretty reasonable.

He's also saying that blacks being over-represented by 50% on Runners World covers is racist against blacks, because they should be over-represented by more than just 50%.

He's also basically saying that every black trail runner should be put on covers of magazines and made famous, no matter how good or bad they are.

I thought this thread was going to be about lack of diversity in distance running (5000-Marathon) as 90-95% of the top runners come from 2 countries Kenya and Ethiopia.

Yes though it would be great if people of ALL GROUPS got into running at any level, I really enjoyed it for over 30 years, before an injury that ended that hobby, I really miss it.

sdfasdfasdfadf wrote:

Elvin wrote:

So basically he's saying that there aren't many African American trail runners, and he'd like it if there was more encouragement for black kids to try running. That seems pretty reasonable.

He's also saying that blacks being over-represented by 50% on Runners World covers is racist against blacks, because they should be over-represented by more than just 50%.

He's also basically saying that every black trail runner should be put on covers of magazines and made famous, no matter how good or bad they are.

I don’t think that’s what he’s saying. But be our guest and continue with your butthurt wailing. Big fat baby.

You are stupid wrote:

sdfasdfasdfadf wrote:

He's also saying that blacks being over-represented by 50% on Runners World covers is racist against blacks, because they should be over-represented by more than just 50%.

He's also basically saying that every black trail runner should be put on covers of magazines and made famous, no matter how good or bad they are.

I don’t think that’s what he’s saying. But be our guest and continue with your butthurt wailing. Big fat baby.

BLM math holds that the country is half white and half black. So only 50% of Runners World covers would be "justice".

zvdfgsdfgsdfg wrote:

You are stupid wrote:

I don’t think that’s what he’s saying. But be our guest and continue with your butthurt wailing. Big fat baby.

BLM math holds that the country is half white and half black. So only 50% of Runners World covers would be "justice".

Brigid Kosgei, Ruth Chepngetich, Sifan Hassan, K. Bekele Etc. are VERY DESERVING of being on covers of Running Magazines ON MERIT. I have no problem with running magazines having mostly Black Runners on the Covers, as far as Distance Running Goes ESPECIALLY HALF AND FULL MARATHONS, they are the ones producing most of the great performances, And A TRUE MERITOCRACY is ALWAYS The BEST and FAIREST way to do things.

douglas burke wrote:

zvdfgsdfgsdfg wrote:

BLM math holds that the country is half white and half black. So only 50% of Runners World covers would be "justice".

Brigid Kosgei, Ruth Chepngetich, Sifan Hassan, K. Bekele Etc. are VERY DESERVING of being on covers of Running Magazines ON MERIT. I have no problem with running magazines having mostly Black Runners on the Covers, as far as Distance Running Goes ESPECIALLY HALF AND FULL MARATHONS, they are the ones producing most of the great performances, And A TRUE MERITOCRACY is ALWAYS The BEST and FAIREST way to do things.

You don't really believe that.

You only support meritocracy when it helps people of color.

Like how you support discriminating against the 3rd highest earning ethnic group, while discriminating in favor of the top 2 highest earning income groups.

You call this systemic discrimination "A Aaction".

This is a complex problem that so many try to oversimplify.

I believe having black role models would help draw more blacks into the sport. Distance running is a hard sell to white kids too. It is not all that exciting for a lot of people. The "rewards" are rarely immediate and running a long distance can hurt the first time a kid tries it.

I would like to see evidence that black distance runners are not recruited to the same extent as comparable white distance runners in high school. Is there a black kid who finished ahead of a white kid at Footlocker who was not recruited when the white kid was? Maybe for D3 slots...

Media interest in trail running barely exists to begin with so taking a shot at it seems like a really silly idea.

I doubt that if black distance runners were on the cover of RW every month it would move the needle at all. The reach of that magazine is pretty small. I think the only time I see the magazine might be in airport newsstands. Not sure middle school/high school kids are spending a lot of time in airport newsstands.

I find it hard to believe that there are a lot of bigoted or racist high school XC coaches that are ignoring potential black runners (maybe there are). Heck, I am curious how many HS XC coaches do much recruiting at all especially those who are not teachers in the school.

Lots of sports are dealing with how to diversify the sport. In some cases the issues can be money. Hockey is expensive, but running is not. What is the pitch you make to recruit any kid? How do you change that message for underrepresented groups. I imagine it could be awkward to be the only black runner on an all-white team (and this is true for any sport). Once I had a meeting on a historically black college campus. Walking to the meeting across the length of campus I did not see another white face until I got the meeting. It was pretty enlightening. It gave me small taste of what it must be like to face that everyday---a very small taste.

Why think about race? wrote:

How many blacks do you know that jog/run recreationally? I only know 2 or 3 in my running club. There's nothing stopping them from coming out and jogging with us. It's more of a cultural thing than what SJWs try to make it out to be. Sad.

We might not think there is anything stopping them, but something might be. Ask the black folks in your group about their experiences as runners to gain their perspectives. I think if you (assuming you are white) showed up at an all-black event the odds on you returning would be far lower than if there were at least a few folks who looked at you.

I do not think that it is a case of anyone actively doing anything. I doubt that it is the case where the group does something overt or intentional. My experience with running groups that I go to for the first time is that everyone knows everyone (or at least the newbie thinks that) and no one makes an effort to make the newbie feel welcomed. And I see this happen in all white groups too when new white runners show.

Having grown up in the South, I take issue with the idea that running for much of the year is a problem. It was far more challenging in Wisconsin than it ever was in Georgia. (As a kid I did not think about the heat until we had central AC installed in our house---then all of the sudden it got really hot outside. Maybe that caused global warming--our adding AC).

Yes, urban areas provide challenges to runners regardless of pigmentation. Probably a bigger issue is a sense of safety---a big issue for kids participating in any sport.

Except unlike Joe Gray, you accepted the black culture you were in, and you didn't try to artificially transform it through subtle accusations of racism.

You didn't pretend that it is a problem that black colleges exist.

Because you're not angry at another race like Joe is.

He is actually talking about Black Amer. Quite a bit different than an African American who may have been born in kenya or Ethiopia for example