Baltimore Marathon Blues

By Nadrat Siddique

 

So, I ran the Baltimore Marathon (26.2 miles) this morning. It was my third time running it. Although I've always considered myself a DC girl, I have grown to love Baltimore, and its people, and was aching to run the race, which I'd been unable to run since 2012. I was quite conflicted about running the race, and did not register until late last night, only a few hours before the event, something unheard off for most amateur athletes engaging in such a major undertaking.

 

The reason for my hesitation was the corporate sponsorship of the race. Among others, Under Armour had signed on to the event. The corporate giant, which now competes with Nike and has its headquarters in Baltimore, play a key role in the Greater Baltimore Committee (GBC), a conglomerate of corporate interests, which control Baltimore's economics with an iron hand. And- the Greater Baltimore Committee--Zionists who assisted in crushing April's Baltimore Uprising--are heavily complicit in the gentrification of Baltimore's Inner Harbor. They have succeeded in driving Baltimore's native Black population out of the area, grabbing up land, developing it, and selling it at prices completely out of reach for most Baltimore natives. A mere condo on Baltimore's newly gentrified Inner Harbor easily goes for $500,000 - $600,000.

 

I see commonality between the practices of the GBC, and those of the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) in Occupied Palestine. In the Palestinian case, settlements are built by Israeli settlers. These homes are then completely off limits for Palestinian habitation, a situation no less than Apartheid South Africa. And the original Palestinian inhabitants, whose land was seized to facilitate the influx of the Zionist settlers, are forced to relocate to Bantustans where they live under dismal, depraved conditions. As you might imagine, I was very troubled by the fact that my $130 registration fee, although meager in the larger scheme of things, might be seen even symbolically as a support of the White Supremacist design for Baltimore. On top of that, I was getting warning messages from some not-so-friendly quarters not to run the race.

 

I compromised and paid the registration fee, deciding to run to deliver my message "Black Lives Matter," contained on a black tee-shirt I'd acquired, hoping for an opportunity to offer solidarity from my Pakistani people to that important movement at some point.

 

I did not see anyone else at the Baltimore marathon representing the Black Lives Matter movement, either running or spectating. But I received kudos from many spectators, including Whites, who yelled out "Black lives matter," to which I responded, "Stop police brutality!" One Black man yelled out at me, "All lives matter!" I pumped my fist at him: "Black lives matter!" I crossed the finish line in 3 hrs 42 mins, a new record for me (also a Boston Marathon qualifying performance) for that distance. I attribute it to the love I have developed over the last few years for Baltimore, and to the Power of the Almighty.