(rousing music) - I moved to Seattle a year and a half ago and if it weren't for CSRD, I would not have found community.

CSRD use, walking, running and movement to reclaim our space in the outdoors and to create a sense of belonging.

Juneteenth is a celebration of our freedom, so being able to move together in this space, make new friends, break bread is really a powerful opportunity.

Today we're doing a three-mile walk.

We'll make some stops along the way to situate you within the historic Central District, what's happening presently, and what we hope for our future.

(rousing music) - My name is Ashley.

I'm one of the co-founders of Club Seattle Runners Division, also known as CSRD.

I'd actually never heard it all the way spelled out.

(crowd laughing) We started back in 2017 with this idea that we were not gonna leave anyone behind and we were gonna continue to welcome people of all paces and all faces into the running community.

So we hope today is an opportunity for you to be able to be in a space with each other, learn a little bit about the Central District in Seattle's history.

So thanks for being here.

I'll pass it over to David.

One of my co-founders who blew me from the very beginning.

(crowd cheering) - Hello everyone.

My name is David.

I hope you guys have a wonderful, educational, communal time today.

Make friends.

Although making another friend is hard.

But we are here for you.

Make friends, have fun.

Thank you for coming.

(crowd applauding) - [David] You know, what I mean?

It's just a run, but yeah - [Alison] It is more than a run.

(David laughs) I have been to and witnessed the explosion of energy that comes from a Monday night.

What is your intent behind these weekly runs?

- We want every space to feel welcoming to people like us.

I have this tremendous amount of empathy for the new runner for the runner of color, for the runner like who doesn't see themselves as a runner.

- [David] I think that people like to see themselves in the things that they do.

Right?

You know?

And by doing so, like they want to have that level of relatability.

They saw, oh, David is out there running Ashley's out there running, you know Ron or Jason or you like out there running.

Maybe I could do that too.

- So much of what we think running is, or what we've consumed about running comes from this very white cultural identity.

- You see runners in magazines and they look a certain way and they appear a certain way and they've got this photogenic-ness.

And I had never felt that way.

And then I think for me like the other thing about Phase All Faces and All Paces, like I'll just break it down, like the concept of faces is one is meant to mean like your face could be any color but it also can look any way.

You are welcome here.

Like there is no size, shape, color of a runner.

Everyone, everyone, every face is welcome.

And then with paces, just the representation of like you can move in any which way.

And sometimes people, we got to the point where people just like are not running and they're still coming.

There's like, I just wanna be part of this energy today.

I wanna start my week with this energy.

And I'm not running, I'm just coming to see my friends who are all here, part of this community.

- Really, it's just people around the city, you know coming together with, you know, shared passion.

Not only for the sport itself but also for the city.

I think that's very important that like people, you know, who loves to know one another, who lives in the city, who loves this city comes together.

And the running is just happens to be the instrument that kind of connects us.

- So how did the idea for this Juneteenth walk come to be?

- So we, in thinking about a Juneteenth walk what would make it super accessible particularly to black folks, right.

And then really capture the fact that we wanted to highlight the Central District.

Sometimes as runners, when we are running through places people talk about taking in this running but you can take it in a lot better when you're walking, when you're having the time to observe what's truly around you.

- This is a gift, right?

To be invited and truly welcomed.

And CSRD has been foundational to me finding my confidence here and finding my people.

So I wanna thank you both for that.

Thank you.

- Yeah.

Thank you.

- Thank you.

(people chatting) - Estelita's Library is a Black-and-Brown-owned community bookstore.

Love books?

Love social justice?

Love people?

This is your bookstore.

- [Alison] We have one more stop.

Across the street is the People's Wall and Black Panther mural.

The Seattle chapter of the Black Panther Party was the first to organize outside of Oakland, California.

Although the original building was razed in 1971, a portion of the original People's Wall remains.

That's what we see.

This mural was completed in 1970 by artist Dion Henderson, and refurbished around 2008.

It is a tribute to the fallen members of the Black Panthers and the icons and spirit of the movement.

- [David] Oh, here we go three, two.

- Power to the people!

- What does it feel like to you to have that kind of moment in community with people like reclaiming space, moving through the history?

- The one, I think one of the things that sticks out to me just being powerful, just having so many people join us and the diversity of the group that joined us - To see from young kids, to elders, people leaving saying things like, "Well, I never knew this history".

Right?

- [David] Right.

- And then recognizing that it's by design that we know that we don't know these things.

Like whose histories do we know?

Whose stories do we know?

- This pocket of history that the city has is often forgotten.

And I think that it is incredibly important for people like us and community like us to not only preserve it, but also do our best to amplify it.

Because if we don't do it, nobody else is gonna do it.

Right?

So like, you know, we have to keep, seek for it.

And once we, you know, and once we find it we have to make sure that we are telling these we're telling the stories about this neighborhood we're highlighting, you know, great things about this neighborhood in the best way we can.

(lighthearted piano music) - [Alison] Hear more about this episode on the Out & Back with Alison Mariella Désir podcast.

Just search Out & Back wherever you listen.

- Fleet Feet is on a mission to inspire the runner and everyone and is proud to sponsor Crosscut's Out & Back with Alison Mariella Désir.