Greg Glassman, the co-founder and CEO of CrossFit Inc, has made poor decisions for the company before. His comments over the weekend were more that that--they were insensitive and displayed and the arrogance of a man like so many-steeped in privileges and devoid of care.
The greater functional fitness community is about individuals finding themselves a place of acceptance, positivity, and growth. My departure from using the trademark going froward is due to his comments and his paltry apology. Fitness culture is better than this and will continue to evolve without him and his naming convention.
I commend the efforts of companies like Reebok, Rogue Fitness, Mayhem, NCFit, Linchpin Athletics, and so many more who despite their longtime affiliation did not waiver, vacillate or apologize--they just moved on in the way of progress. So many CrossFit athletes, programmers, and associated brands did the right thing immediately. For myself, I'll be striving to make changes on more than just appearance--true progress needs to be made in our country, its cities, our families, and ourselves. I've got a lot to learn, if you're like me--and I mean middle-class, white, and male, to be blunt--than you probably do to.
Let's do better. Let's listen. Let's learn and change and grow and maybe this occasionally awful, occasionally wonderful world of ours can be a little more wonderful and a little less awful for more of us. At the very least we can change the laws and systems that allow police to kill black people in America without compunction or consequence. I'm going to start with that basic premise (police should not be geared up to kill and allowed to kill indiscriminately). After that maybe we can split hairs about whether social media is cause or effect, or whether optics is support, or whom to donate to.
Black Lives Matter
