ABSTRACT
In the United States, Black mothers are two to three times more likely than white women to die as a result of pregnancy-related causes and to experience the death of a baby. The health disparities that contribute to Black infant and maternal mortality alongside the 2020 murders of several Black people, including Ahmaud Arbery who was killed while on a jog, call me as a white (bereaved) mother and runner to action. In this essay, I engage running and autoethnographic writing in order to explore ways that students and teachers like me can act to address the health disparities that lead to Black infant and maternal mortality in the United States. I also address the ways that community and organizational silence in the face of health disparities can be a roadblock to action that recognizes that Black Babies’ and Mothers’ Lives Matter.
