At 7:30 a.m. on Father’s Day in Evanston, upwards of 4,000 runners took their position at the starting gate along Sheridan Road adjacent to Long Field for a breezy start to the 25th Annual Ricky Byrdsong Memorial Race Against Hate.
This 10K/5K/Run/Walk has become the largest social just run/walk event of its kind in the nation, bringing together thousands from all over Chicagoland to run and walk in unity against racial hatred and violence.
Vice President of Marketing and Communication for the YWCA Evanston Northshore Erin Venable says the YWCA has partnered with Ricky Byrdsong’s widow, Sherialyn Byrdsong, for this event which has grown beyond Evanston to become a Chicagoland area event.
“The event matters just as much to our community today as it did in 2000 when it started,” Venable said. “It’s become a way for us to honor the legacy of Ricky Byrdsong and to make a difference by contributing to the work of violence prevention and racial equity.”
According to the YWCA website, the Race Against Hate honors the legacy of Ricky Byrdsong – former Northwestern University Basketball Coach, Vice President of Affairs at Aon Corporation and Skokie resident who was murdered by a white supremacist in 1999 while walking in his neighborhood with two of his young children. On the same day, the shooter wounded six Orthodox Jews in Rogers Park. Over the subsequent weekend, he killed a Korean American graduate student in Indiana and wounded an African American minister in Decatur before taking his own life.
Venable says from that tragedy, Sherialyn Byrdsong came together with family and friends every night that summer for a walk. From that ritual, conversations evolved about what an official walk event might look like.
Although smaller group walks took place initially, it was in 2007 that Sherialyn Byrdsong entrusted the event partnership to the YWCA Evanston Northshore.
According to Venable, the race will raise more than $40,000 this year and all proceeds will benefit YWCA Evanston/North Shore’s racial justice and violence prevention programs.
This YWCA funding assists children in local schools and youth organizations to challenge their own prejudices and foster violence-free relationships among their peers; supports teenagers in examining their relationships and practicing constructive ways to handle conflict; and encourages adults to engage in constructive dialogue, interactive activities and meaningful action as related to violence prevention and racial justice.
A post-race awards ceremony honored race winners with remarks by Sherialyn Brydsong, family and former Northwestern Basketball starter Bill McKinney.
Awards were given to race winners including Aaron King for his 5K time of 16 minutes 10 seconds, Kristin Dailey with a time of 17 minutes and 29 seconds and William Hague who completed the 10K in 32 minutes and 37 seconds.
At the race, Sherialyn Byrdsong said when her husband was killed 25 years ago it was shocked people across the country.
“Today gun violence and hate crimes continue to increase, our hope is that this race serves to remind people that we can have diverse ideologies and still be called to seek higher ground,” Byrdsong said. “In the words of Martin Luther King from his speech in 1963, ‘we must learn to live together as brothers or we will parish together as fools.’”
Byrdsong said after 25 years of the race, it is momentous to look around and see the crowd.
“One thing is for certain, this is a community that know how to unite,” she said.
Gina Grillo is a freelance reporter with Pioneer Press.
