[BLACK] CrossFit’s New [LIVES] Twitter Account [MATTER]

Ben Garves Podcast: Fitness, Nutrition, and Activism

For full show notes, see WODDITY.com: https://woddity.com/black-crossfits-new-lives-twitter-account-matter/
It is a new day. Full of fresh opportunities, endless possibilities, and unfulfilled potential for all of us to make the world a better place. I just wanted to remind you of that before we dive in.

Reykjavik CrossFit Championship Officially Cancelled

Frederick Aegidius wrote on the Reykjavik CrossFit Championship website yesterday an announcement that the postponed event has now been formally cancelled. Aegidius wrote:

“We have been following the development of Covid19 and its effects on travel restrictions and the limitations put on larger events since the shut-down of most of the world in March.

We were hoping that our postponed dates would still be possible but as we are now moving into June, we are sorry to inform you that we will not be able to host the 2020 RCC…”

He continues, “All registration fees and tickets will be fully refunded through Eventbrite and TIX.is respectively, but the processing time might be slow due to a high number of refunds that need to be finalized so please bear with us.”

CrossFit Science Education Twitter

CrossFit has launched a new CrossFit Science Education Twitter account, @CrossFitSciEdu. It’s the latest step in a longstanding war the organization has been waging about corruption in scientific studies, peer review, and review boards. In the announcement they state CrossFit Science Education was created to meet a clear need for this type of rudimentary education by providing the terminology and tools necessary for thoughtful, skeptical engagement with science (both as it is and as it is frequently misconstrued).

While we’re at it, CrossFit also shared a book by Doctor William Davis. TItled Undoctored: Why Health Care Has Failed You and How You Can Become Smarter Than Your Doctor, it takes you on a journey into how corruption has led to the current state of our health and fitness industries.

Black Lives Matter

This podcast celebrates its first birthday in August, and I’ve talked a lot about progressive causes over the last year. For many in my audience, I understand that’s not your cup of tea and I appreciate that you’ve stuck with me for the core substance of the shows. But saying that black lives matter isn’t a progressive cause. It’s an acknowledgement of a basic human right.

I want to read you from an email I sent to a member of the community this morning, someone I hope to continue having this conversation with and possibly invite on the show. I wrote:

Someone made a really poignant comment on one of my videos yesterday. He wrote, "it's not really helpful to put the burden on marginalized communities to speak out right now, their voices are constant, it's those who are regularly silent that need to speak up and shoulder the burden." I wonder if that was the mistake I made when trying to talk about diversity in February, that I put the onus on a marginalized community to speak up instead of trying to have those with racial privilege acknowledge not just their voices, but their performances and achievements.

In the email, this community member wrote about Elizabeth Akinwale’s frustrations and retirement from the sport. I responded: Akinwale was such an incredible athlete to watch. I can't imagine the burden felt by a black athlete to be the single or one of very few voices for their community. Or the pain she had to have felt to be held by some as a counterpoint to an argument. Like when somebody says "Golf isn't a white sport. Look at Tiger Woods" or "Gymnastics isn't a white sport, look at Simone Biles," and now "CrossFit isn't a white sport, look at EZ Muhammad, Elizabeth Akinwale, and Chandler Smith."