Caffeinated Politics

This past week while listening to WGN radio I heard a side of the Chicago Marathon that I had not considered. Upon hearing it, I wished to somehow have missed the story. It was just so dispiriting. Another example of what is so wrong in our country today.

Sunday, it was reported that more than 53,000 runners surged through the streets of Chicago in the 47th running of this city-wide event. But as the radio report made clear, the joy of the marathon was tempered by a quiet but gnawing fear as immigration enforcement has cast a pall over the lives of so many Brown people in our society.

I have loved Chicago since a boy when my first radio pulled in so many signals from their various stations, to the years as an adult with the richness of their theatres and restaurants to the idea that even in death it might be possible to still cast a ballot on Election Day. But there was nothing to smile about from what I learned of the fear many were experencing as the marathon drew near.

“Do you think it’s safe around the marathon area?” one person asked on Reddit earlier this week. “If I am from out of the country, should I run with my passport in my pocket?” another user inquired.

Based in Pilsen, Venados Running Club is encouraging its members running in the marathon to use a buddy system for the race and to share their locations with friends and family, according to club leader and longtime member Enrique Rivera.

The club has also been urging members to turn their attention to community organizations, which are providing guidance on how to prepare for and respond to federal activity, Rivera said.

“(Ensuring) that everyone (finishes) safely is most important this year because it’s definitely on people’s minds,” he said.

For Latinas Run Chicago, a local chapter of an international group focused on Latinas in the sport, Tate has noticed federal operations imposing a steady weight on members. The chapter has about 25 participants running in Sunday’s marathon, Tate said, who have been with the club for five years now.

“It’s just one of those things where people haven’t realized how much it’s affecting our everyday lives,” she said.

Ponder the reality of the madness that has been unleashed by the fear of ICE. Supporters of runners from Mexico, Puerto Rico, and other immigrant communities found themselves weighing whether to show up the marathon. Some chose to stay home, fearing detainment or intimidation. Others attended, but with caution such as making sure to carrying IDs, avoiding certain neighborhoods, or scanning the crowd for signs of ICE agents. Diana Tate, a lead ambassador for Latinas Run Chicago, had to even ask her family to skip the race for their own safety. Make no mistake about it. That is not what a marathon should feel like.

Races are often run in Madison and our neighborhood on the isthmus is a place where runners pass. I can attest to such events where strangers cheer for strangers, knowing that the only thing that mattered is the finish line. Not the color of your skin or the status of your visa. How dare ICE and the Donald Trump administration undermine the collective unity that these races create.

I much agreed with the words this past week from Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson when saying, “The best way we can demonstrate resistance is not bending the knee to tyranny”. That is the key. Never being compliant. Never kneel. Never relenting. But I also know that real dread exists due to ICE. Words cannot erase the deep and real unease that has very much settled over neighborhoods like Pilsen and Little Village, where federal raids have become routine in the Windy City. And that breaks our hearts when civic events turn into partisan battlegrounds.

The Chicago Marathon has always been a citywide ritual, where a Chicago sports reporter said endurance is a shared link and the streets “belong to all of us”. That is now shattered as partisan reprisals and racialized White House policies are striving to destroy the basic fabrics of our nation.

Yes, I somehow wish to have missed this aspect of the marathon story as it just makes me so sad.