NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — New York City's running community is throwing its support to the Black Lives Matter movement.
The New York Road Runners will donate $5 for every runner who signs up to run a mile through Sunday, with the goal of raising $100,000 for the NAACP's Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
They're partnering with Olympic silver medalist Meb Keflezighi who has endured racism despite his hero status after winnning the New York City and Boston marathons.
"When I was running with another African American and we were asked to show driver's license and social security and all that stuff, that shouldn't be when you go for a run," he tells WCBS 880's Marla Diamond. "When I'm walking down the street I'm just a regular person. There are times you get stereotyped because people already have a preconception of who you are or what you should be."
He was deeply shaken by the murder of jogger Ahmaud Arbery, who was allegedly hunted down by a white father and son who thought he was a robbery suspect.
"Running is something that you can go freely to express yourself, but you never could think of getting shot," Keflezighi said.
For every runner in the kid's race, $5 will be donated to Black Girls Code and My Brother's Keeper Alliance, non profits that are confronting systemic racism and striving for racial justice.