Join us for the 2021 (somewhat virtual) Race Against Hate
Saturday, June 19, and Sunday, June 20th
7 AM – 4 PM
Location: On the Evanston, IL lakefront (or wherever you are)
Once again, we cannot gather by the thousands, but we encourage all to participate virtually in the 22nd annual Ricky Byrdsong Memorial Race Against Hate!
Register for the Race, pick up your commemorative 2020-2021 race tee shirt, and take a 5 or 10K walk or run on Race weekend (or anytime in June) to support the cause.
Registration is just $25 for adults ($10 for youth 13 and under) and includes a commemorative 2020-2021 Race tee shirt. All registrants will be honored as Race Heroes on our website as well.
Reach out to your family, friends, and co-workers, and ask them to join you. Create a team, capture that race spirit, and help raise funds to support the critical mission of the YWCA — eliminating racism and empowering women.
Run for healing, run for equity, run for justice. We need you!
History of the Race
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.
Because of Ricky’s lifelong love of sports and his compelling work with young people in the community, the Race Against Hate was launched by his family and friends in 2000 (and entrusted to YWCA Evanston/North Shore in 2007) to honor Ricky’s legacy and bring attention to the need to combat hatred in all its forms. (Read Sherialyn Byrdsong’s story of the founding of the Race Against Hate.)
View Sherialyn Byrdsong’s message to the community on the 21st anniversary of the Race Against Hate, and the Walk Against Hate she inspired in her hometown of Atlanta:
On Thursday, June 18, 2020 Sherialyn Byrdsong; YWCA Evanston/North Shore President/CEO, Karen Singer, the Director of YWCA’s Equity Institute, Tiffany McDowell; and longtime Byrdsong family friend and Assistant Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at Missouri State University, Lyle Q. Foster discussed critical issues challenging our communities. Together they discussed parallels between Ricky Byrdsong’s murder in 1999 and today, and imagined action that we might all take to move our country toward greater equity and inclusion.
View the video recording below and see the slide show of those who walked and ran on their own in June 2020 as part of the Race Against Hate…in place:
The Race Supports Our Mission
Proceeds from the Race Against Hate are used to further the mission of YWCA Evanston/North Shore, in particular our efforts in the areas of racial justice and violence prevention. With this funding, YWCA assists children in our schools and local youth organizations to challenge their own prejudices and foster healthy, violence-free relationships among their peers; supports teenagers in examining their own relationships and practicing constructive ways to handle conflict and differences; and encourages adults to engage in constructive dialogue, interactive activities and meaningful action as related to racial justice.
Press coverage from 2019 Race Against Hate
- Chicago Area Runners Association: Race Against Hate Recap
- Chicago Tribune: 20 years after Ricky Byrdsong was murdered, the Race Against Hate continues in Evanston: ‘It’s a living demonstration of the power of love over hate’
- FOX32 Chicago: Ricky Byrdsong’s death at the hands of a white supremacist still prevalent 20 years later
- CBS2 Chicago: Hundreds Race Against Hate In Memory Of Northwestern Basketball Coach Ricky Byrdsong
- Chicago Tribune: Race Against Hate looks to bring community together: ‘We refuse to be stymied’
- ABC7 Chicago: The Race Against Hate continues in Evanston 20 years after Ricky Byrdsong’s murder