Race Against Hate 2016 -- Review

Many of us remember the night of July 3rd 1999. It was a beautiful night on the North Shore, but a terrible thing happened. Former Northwestern Mens Basketball Coach Ricky Byrdsong was shot and killed in a hate crime killing spree that extended over several midwestern states that holiday weekend. Byrdsong had been walking with his young son and daughter a block away from his home in Skokie when he was shot and killed.

The Ricky Byrdsong Race Against Hate now is run every Fathers Day in part to remember Byrdsong but also to unify thousands of people from the Chicagoland area against racial hatred and violence. For about 5 or 6 years now, North Shore Country Day School's Multicultural Affairs Committee has been forming a team for the Race Against Hate.

Two cool things related to our schools participation happened this year. First, we had the largest team -- I believe for the 2nd year in a row --  and here is the picture of many of the participants.

Also the 2016 Race Against Hate mens winner, William Hague, has a North Shore Country Day School connection. I have known William since before he was in Kindergarten as his Dad and I ran on the same team years ago (first called Active Endeavors then called Universal Sole). The Hague's live down the road from school and although William is a Loyola '12 grad, I have occasionally given him some training support during school vacations while he competed for Duke University over the last four years. So it was also cool that in a small way, our community contributed to the winner this year too. And here is the picture of that moment.