Stop the Madness: Exercise is not “White Supremacy”

We’ve bastardized “equity.”

By now, you’ve likely seen the Time Magazine piece about the history of exercise as a public health activity. I found the piece informative and enlightening. I may even purchase the book for reference.

Not surprisingly, the author is being dragged as “woke” for connecting white supremacy to exercise. The author did note that during earlier pushes to spur folks to exercise, advocates promoted the message that white women need to be healthy because we need more white babies. I can see why an author would make that connection given the messaging about race and desired births, specifically.

But folks have really run with the concept that exercise is white supremacy. Both those who misquote the author and those who actually connect racism to the practice of exercise/thinness. Undoubtedly, not everybody can nor should be a size four. Yet, others are also saying that working out during the workday is a “privilege.”

I don’t know who needs to hear this but, exercise is not “white supremacy,” the author didn’t say it was, and working out during the workday is not a “privilege.” It’s an “amenity” for various reasons. But it’s an overreach to call working out during the day a “privilege.”