Black Running Crew Accuses Boston Marathon Organizer of Racism

A Black, female-led running crew says the Boston Marathon’s organizer and a Massachusetts police department violated their civil rights when they were harassed during the 2023 race and were barricaded from cheering on runners, according to a new federal lawsuit.

TrailblazHers Run Co. said in a lawsuit filed Thursday in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts that the Boston Athletic Association and the Newton Police Department singled out spectators from their crew and other running crews serving people of color and racially profiled, targeted, and harassed them, barricading them from the event, while white spectators were able to continue enjoying the race.

The TrailblazHers allege the BAA and the NPD violated their equal protection rights under the 14th Amendment, violated a federal civil rights statute, and a state public accommodation law.

Three of the group’s founding members, Abeo Powder, Elizabeth Rock, and Frances Ramirez, are named as plaintiffs in the suit. The group also named Newton Police Department Chief John F. Carmichael Jr. as a defendant, according to the complaint.

“Today, we send a clear message to the BAA and to all police departments along the Marathon route: the law does not tolerate racial profiling,” said Mirian Albert, the plaintiff’s attorney from Lawyers for Civil Rights, in a statement on Friday. “We are prepared to seek immediate court intervention if BAA or local police engage in the type of discriminatory conduct that spectators of color endured last year in Newton.”

The crew supports Boston-based female runners who identify as Black, indigenous, or a person of color. While supporting runners in their designated “cheer zone,” the group says Newton police officers began to yell at and harass them because they were allegedly obstructing marathon runners, the plaintiffs said in the complaint.

As tensions escalated, roughly 20 police officers on bicycles created a barricade in front of the crew, separating them from the marathon runners, the crew said in the complaint. The officers informed the crew members that they were responding to a complaint from the BAA.

The running crew pointed out that a variety of other White running crews, family members, and spectators have historically engaged in the same behaviors, according to the complaint. Yet, no similar police response was observed at the 2023 marathon, the crew said.

In the aftermath of the incident, the crew said they had 10 meetings with the BAA and even met with Newton’s mayoral office, according to the complaint. However, rather than apologizing to the crew, BAA is alleged to have apologized to the police department for the position the association put them in.

“That is completely backwards,” Ramirez said in the Friday statement. “They should be apologizing to us – the spectators of color who were racially profiled and harassed.

In response, the BAA said Friday that it was aware of the complaint, but had not yet had an opportunity to review it, according to a spokesperson’s statement.

“We are confident that the BAA and our partners are prepared for a Boston Marathon that is welcoming to the 30,000 participants, spectators and eight cities and towns along the route,” the BAA spokesperson said in its statement. “We are focused on creating a joyous experience for all.”

The TrailblazHers asks that the defendants be enjoined from discriminating against the group and its members. It seeks declaratory judgment and compensatory, punitive, and nominal damages, as well as attorneys’ fees and costs.

The Newton Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Lawyers for Civil Rights represent the plaintiffs.

TrailblazHers Run Co. et al v. Boston Athletic Association et al, D. Mass., No. 1:24-cv-10950 complaint, 4/11/24