Coffey is a runner, father, filmmaker, and activist who started organizing groups of people to run with him in response to recent and historic violence against black people. Coffey realized that his power was his ability to organize and empower people to take action, and his running protests quickly gained momentum and appeal as a way for people of all colors and backgrounds to get together and speak out against injustice.
He’s also a father, who had to confront his kids about what it means to be black and out in the world today. His conversation with his oldest son inspired a film he co-wrote titled About the People, in which he acts as a militant voice in a meeting of the black community as they grapple with the power structures in America, how they fit inside them, and plans for their re-engineering.
Enjoy!
Coffey is a North-Carolina born runner, actor, writer and activist who founded the DeFine New York Run Club. He uses his talents of organizing and attracting diverse running crowds as a way to call for justice and peace within the black and minority communities. He also co-wrote the short film About the People, inspired by a conversation he had with his son about the violence he and many other black children face out in the world. Above all he believes in running as a healthy way to express our fears and discomforts, and as a way to welcome a diversity of voices that together have the power to make change happen.
Find Coffey on Instagram at @thatcoffeyboy
The DeFine New York Run Club meets Saturday mornings at 9am at Dick & Jane’s, 266 Adelphi Street, Brooklyn, NY.
Watch About the People online for free at Aboutthepeoplefilm.com
OUR HOST: FERNANDO VILLA
From Nogales, Arizona in the U.S. Southwest. Fernando is an adventurer, architect, writer, and climber. He likes to travel to inform his views of the world, and loves being proven wrong.
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