All Paces, All Faces with Ashley Davies and David Jaewon Oh

Meet the Club Seattle Runners Division, the group that helped Alison Mariella Desir find her place and her people in the PNW.

Housing discrimination and restrictive covenants shaped Seattle in ways that are still being felt today. The most obvious of these is the neighborhood segregation it created and the way that it affected Black people’s ability to purchase homes and acquire wealth. But it also created disparities in health and movement. 

Consider Seattle’s Central District. It was once a thriving Black neighborhood because Black people legally couldn't live anywhere else in the city. But in the last few decades, the neighborhood has rapidly gentrified. Yet, even with gentrification, heat maps suggest that there are fewer people outside running, walking or biking in the Central District than in areas historically reserved for white people in Seattle.

Club Seattle Runners Division, also known as CSRD, is working to end that legacy of inactivity by getting people of color moving, reclaiming space and, literally, creating more heat.

For this episode of the Out & Back podcast, club founders Ashley Davies and David Jaewon Oh sit with host Alison Mariella Desir to discuss how they combined a love of running with a love of Seattle to get people intentionally moving outside. They will also take you to the Central District during Juneteenth weekend 2022 where they hosted a 3 mile walking tour in partnership with Wa Na Wari.

Before listening, we suggest you watch the episode about CSRD here.

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Credits

Host: Alison Mariella Désir

Producer: Brooklyn Jamerson-Flowers

Executive producer: Mark Baumgarten

Audio production: Bryce Adolphson, Sarah Hall

Audio support: Resti Bagcal, Seth Halleran