May 2023 Newsletter

On May 25, 2020, George Floyd was murdered by police in Minneapolis. That year, many corporations publicly denounced injustices taking place against Black people in the U.S. and committed funds and resources to address much-needed systemic changes. That year was also the year the Running Industry Diversity Coalition (RIDC) was created to help ingrain racial justice into the running industry.

At the RIDC, our mission is to unite the running industry by providing resources, measuring progress, and holding the industry accountable to equitable employment, leadership, and ownership positions and improving the inclusion, visibility, and access for Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC). But we must know where we currently are to know where we are going together.

If you are new here, the RIDC is conducting a series of baseline research studies focused on the employment, access, inclusion, and belonging of underrepresented racial groups in the running industry. You can learn about each study on our website.

In addition to the upcoming release of our research findings, we have plenty of other areas of interest and action necessary to achieve our mission. Over the next few months, we’ll be sharing some of our research deep dives on our website for you to consider or act on.

First up: Let’s get into the information brands share about their racial justice and/or diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and the impact of their efforts. Transparency among brands differs; this piece asks “what can you know?” using the lens of a consumer.

Read our deep dive written by Allison Torres Burtka: How Committed to Racial Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Is Your Favorite Running Brand?

Kiera Smalls
Executive Director, The RIDC

RIDC Updates

***Happy Birthday, Ahmaud Arbery***

We are excited to announce that we are launching an RIDC team on Card.io, a Black-owned gamified movement app! Join us beginning on May 8 in celebration of Ahmaud Arbery’s birthday, and be ready to run by downloading the app and checking if your city is available.

***Get the details in this blog***

***The Next RIDC Workshop***

Join us in celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month and Mental Health Awareness Month. The Black and AAPI communities have a shared history of cultural stigma against exploring mental health resources, in part due to lack of access, and we aim to create a dialogue to help break this cycle.
*Recap of workshop coming soon

Global Running Day Campaign

Every year, we acknowledge the erasure/lack of racial diversity representation in Global Running Day promotions. The racial part of diversity is often overlooked, but that is exactly why the RIDC exists. We are mobilizing the running industry again to center racial equity in Global Running Day content.

*Check out the impact* ***this campaign had last year.***

**RIDC Partner Spotlight: GU**

"Raspberry Lemonade Energy Gel: It’s more than a new flavor. It’s a commitment to fostering inclusive and accessible outdoor experiences while also acknowledging that the land we’re privileged to enjoy is stolen. 10% of proceeds benefit Rising Hearts and their Running on Native Lands initiative. In celebration of this partnership, special edition 8-packs feature the art of Indigenous ultrarunner Yatika Starr Fields (Osage, Muscogee, Cherokee)."

RIDC Media Round Up

A Conversation About Growing Up Black: "There was a lot of talk within corporate America about racial equity in 2020. Three years later, it's worth asking: have you kept up momentum or have you become complacent? If you're in the latter group, here's a reminder of the reality that needs to be shifted." (Pictured)

7 Ways To Encourage Workplace Anti-Racism, Nearly Three Years Since America’s Racial Reckoning: "A funny thing happened since the summer of 2020. Workplaces started talking less and less about racism, racial justice and racial equity and more and more about diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and belonging. All are very important concepts, but in a tragically ironic “Black Lives Matter” vs. “all lives matter” sorta way, the latter is too often weaponized as a guise to spinelessly and conspicuously avoid any consequential, durable focus on the former. Consciously use terminology derived from the word ‘race’ to help normalize that specificity."

Learn with us: Systemic Racism vs. Profit: Why the Conflict?

Great LinkedIn post about cognitive dissonance: "Cognitive dissonance is a psychological term for the discomfort we feel when we believe or value two things that are at odds with each other."

Lawsuits Challenge Corporate Diversity Pledges After Floyd: "A growing number of lawsuits accuse major companies that prioritized diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in recent years of falling short on their promises."

"Diversity dishonesty" is the toxic workplace trend we’re not talking about enough: “Diversity dishonesty is a company or organisation working hard to give the appearance that they are invested in diversity, but not making the internal changes to support diverse people in the organisation,” says Tricia Callender, PhD, head of diversity, equity and inclusion at Thinx Inc. "It’s hiring a ton of diverse people, putting diverse people on company photographs and advertising assets, but not valuing them in the organisation and then gaslighting when the issue is raised.”