I do not run, ever. In fact, the only time I will ever even muster up a light jog is if it’s raining outside and I’m hurrying inside my apartment, or if I’m about to miss one of the Wolfline buses to class. So, it’s no surprise that when my best friend told me she’d be running in the Run for Razan race on Sunday and I told her I wanted to join her, she laughed.

A little too hard.

The first ever Run for Razan event took place this past Saturday morning. It was a fundraiser and 5K run, in the memory of the life of Razan Abu-Salha. Razan was an NC State student who, along with her sister Yusor Abu-Salha and brother-in-law Deah Barakat, was murdered in their Chapel Hill apartment. Razan was an avid runner, and I learned that she was training for the Raleigh Rock ‘N’ Roll half-marathon at the time of her death. Yasmine Inaya, a senior studying sustainable materials and a friend of Razan, ended up running the race in Razan’s honor. She has now, along with the help of Razan’s family and NC State Student Government, created the 5K race in her honor. The race and fundraiser will hopefully happen annually.

Usually, the thought of any strenuous physical exercise would turn me off immediately. It would have been much more in line with my disposition to have donated a few dollars to the fundraiser and cheered for everyone participating in the race on that chilly Saturday morning, from the comfort of my own bed. That would have been the easiest thing for everyone who was there to do. But they didn’t, because it wasn’t about their comfort and it wasn’t about them at all.

And it of course wasn’t about me either. It was about honoring the memory of someone who had her life stolen from her, by a bigot. Razan had her life shortened much too quickly because of who she was, because of what she looked like and at no fault of her own.

Although some will only call the prejudice and vile hatred of her murderer “alleged,” and act as if she and her sister and brother-in-law were possibly killed due to a parking dispute, many believe that there is more to why Razan was murdered.

It was because she was a brown Muslim woman. It was the racism, xenophobia and unforgivable malice of someone emboldened by their own hatred and ignorance. A hatred and ignorance that is still very present in our society, and in our world. An ignorance that at times appears to be getting louder and more apparent. This is not OK. What happened to Razan and her family was abhorrent, and it should never happen again. The race was a step forward in honoring the life of this NC State student, who is gone too soon. It was a show of everyone there saying “no” to the sort of bigotry and hatred that robbed Razan of her life.

So if the very least I can do is donate some money and sacrifice a single Saturday morning to run for a cause, much bigger than myself, why shouldn’t I? What’s stopping me? The fact that my friend had to cancel last minute and I was alone, the fact that I have no stamina, the fact that I was afraid of being so slow that I came in last … None of that mattered at all. What mattered was all of the people who organized the event and those who participated, taking a step out of their own lives to honor the life of someone else. I don’t think that I did some great thing by going to this race, not at all. It was the very least I could do. Nor do I think that those who did not or could not participate for whatever reason do not care, I know that is so far from the truth. But I do encourage more students to participate in the race next year, and to consider thinking how they can reject hatred in ways big and small on campus. I also encourage students to consider how they can help participate in any cause at NC State that is trying to make a difference on campus and in the world.

I’m not going to lie, this is the first time I’ve ever participated in a school-sponsored event aimed at making a difference. I was absent during the Black History Month events, Women’s History Month events, Diversity Awareness Week and the events about environmental protection. All things I claim to care about. I was just “too busy” with homework, class, work, socializing, whatever. 

So, this run gave me a chance to honor Razan’s memory, it also reminded me of something else. While I attend NC State and while we all do, we should consider attending more events like this, not for ourselves, but for each other. It is so easy to put important things like Run for Razan and other school-sponsored events aside because we are busy with our own lives. Yes, it’s true we’re all busy, but this event reminded me of how important it is that we take care of one another and try to work toward a better future for our school and everyone in it. So, if you, like me, have never attended a school-sponsored event trying to encourage change, I encourage you to do so. And I encourage everyone to consider participating in Run for Razan next year. If I can do it, so can you.