‘We’re going to fix this.’ Ex-Cat raises more than $7,000 in ‘Run For Black Lives.’
A former University of Kentucky cross country runner turned social justice sympathy into concrete action in Central Kentucky on Friday.
Josh Nadzam and his friend Gavin Galanes ran 26 miles from downtown Lexington to the Kentucky State Capitol in Frankfort to raise money and awareness for the Black Lives Matter movement in an event dubbed “The Run For Black Lives.” Nadzam, who graduated from UK in 2012, developed the plan for Friday’s event along with Adrian Wallace, vice president of the Lexington NAACP.
“I am completely dead, very exhausted. There was no shade the whole way, sun beating down, cramps, a weird pain in my left side. But it was definitely worth it,” Nadzam said after the run. “This cause means so much to me and I want to do everything I can personally to contribute to dismantling racism, to stand with the Black community as a white ally ... I want this place to be great for everybody and if there’s one person who’s experiencing injustice then that’s too many. I can’t just sit there and act like there’s not a problem.”
Galanes, who ran for the Murray State cross country team from 2014-2017, volunteered to accompany Nadzam on the trek as soon as he heard about it.
“I definitely feel pretty strongly about this movement, it’s an issue that’s very personal to me. A lot of people in my life have been affected by the things that people are protesting for right now and it breaks my heart to see everything that’s happening,” Galanes said. “When I heard that Josh was doing this I definitely jumped at the opportunity to accompany him and do whatever I can to keep the movement going.”
A group gathered at Fifth Third Pavilion at Cheapside Park in downtown Lexington around 9:30 a.m. After words from a handful of speakers and some calisthenics to get warmed up, Nadzam and Galanes took off toward Frankfort with about 15 other people. Their fellow runners joined them for part of the circuit, and others jumped in and out along the way as Nadzam and Galanes made their way out of Lexington via Main Street and Leestown Road.
Nadzam’s girlfriend, Nia Rivers, and his friend, Griffin VanMeter, made the journey in their cars, taking turns driving ahead of the runners and staking out spots on the side of the road where they could provide water and snacks.
In Frankfort, Nadzam and Galanes connected with VanMeter on Capital Avenue, and the trio completed the run by ascending the steps that lead to the front entrance of the State Capitol Building.
After recovering from the run by sitting on the Capitol steps for a bit with his friends, Nadzam had a brief meeting with Gov. Andy Beshear’s deputy chief of staff, Jonathan Smith, in which he delivered a resolution from the Kentucky branch of the NAACP calling for civilian oversight of police misconduct. Smith pledged to deliver the resolution to Beshear.
Awareness wasn’t all Nadzam set out to generate through Friday’s event. Using a fundraising app that’s built around fitness tracking called moolathon.com, organizers raised more than $6,000 from users who sponsored the run. Combined with a $1,000 donation from Republic Bank and other flat donations, around $7,300 had been raised as of Friday afternoon. All proceeds from the Run For Black Lives will be donated to the Kentucky NAACP.
Nadzam has a long history of community activism that dates back to his time at UK. Having grown up in a rough neighborhood outside of Pittsburgh, Pa., he decided at an early age he wanted to help folks from marginalized communities.
As a sophomore in 2010, Nadzam earned UK’s CATSPY Award for Community Service and was named to the SEC Community Service Team. He said Friday’s Run For Black Lives was just one of many steps he plans to take in order to fight systemic inequality in America.
“This will just be one of many things in years to come of my efforts and our efforts. We’re going to fix this. I don’t know how, but we will,” Nadzam said. “I truly believe that not knowing the solution is not an excuse to not try. I look at it like; every day there’s people in labs trying to solve cancer. They have no idea if we’ll ever cure cancer but it doesn’t stop them from showing up every day. So, I don’t know how we’re going to solve this but it’s not going to stop us from trying every day until we die.”
