Rebuild NYRR - Group starts petition asking for removal of NYRR Head Michael Capiraso

As someone who has been involved with the sport of running/track at a high level and capacity for over 20 years, it’s not as easy as “put a name on it” as many have said.

Our sport is cut throat and filled with retaliation. If you speak your mind you are black listed from ever truly producing again. It is and has always been the old boys club, who you know and what have you done for me lately mentality.

The sport is driven by many egos and hot heads that will stop at nothing to destroy you if you even step out of line or speak up about important issues such as race, sexism and other forms of social injustice. Many people that work at NYRR and other similar organizations truly love the sport and what they do, but by putting their name out there it can certainly be career ending. Simply just disagree with someone can make your life hell.

I read the Medium article. It's still short on specific allegations except they think the CEO is overpaid. Pretty unimpressive stuff. All symbol, no substance.

And the calls for action are extremely uninspiring. The big plan is to....hire HR people.

They complain that outreach running events aren't reaching non-white neighborhoods and communities. Maybe instead of waiting for the bureaucracy to be fixed to their liking, these avid runners with time on their hands could recognize an untapped market, start their own organization, host their own races, and earn their own money. Disrupt the status quo rather than whine about it.

my 2c wrote:

I read the Medium article. It's still short on specific allegations except they think the CEO is overpaid. Pretty unimpressive stuff. All symbol, no substance.

And the calls for action are extremely uninspiring. The big plan is to....hire HR people.

They complain that outreach running events aren't reaching non-white neighborhoods and communities. Maybe instead of waiting for the bureaucracy to be fixed to their liking, these avid runners with time on their hands could recognize an untapped market, start their own organization, host their own races, and earn their own money. Disrupt the status quo rather than whine about it.

I mean, being told your natural hair isn't professional is a pretty loud dog whistle... it's pretty obvious that these employees are scared of retaliation.

Current NYRR employee wrote:

John, that previous post you mention simply states that they aren't a big fan of the type of language often used by people advocating for social justice, expresses incredulity at one of the particular accusations, and suggests that two of the other posts seem irrelevant.

Keep in mind there are dozens of posts on the Instagram account. They collectively highlight problematic patterns, but the posts themselves are just small pieces of the bigger story.

Some people seem bothered by the fact that the picture being painted is selective. But if you have a specific perspective you're trying to illustrate, and that specific perspective has been repeatedly ignored, misunderstood, and reframed, it only makes sense to paint a picture that selectively highlights the problem.

Starting with just the first one, so you really not see how nauseatingly disingenuous it is to paint the NYRR as not supportive of the black and brown communities because they need to pay police to help secure road closures for their races? Is that really what you think advocating for social justice is about? Because that’s not the real social justice I try to pursue.

This is not for public debate, what does NYRR's policy say, if there is any?

Mac is done wrote:

my 2c wrote:

I read the Medium article. It's still short on specific allegations except they think the CEO is overpaid. Pretty unimpressive stuff. All symbol, no substance.

And the calls for action are extremely uninspiring. The big plan is to....hire HR people.

They complain that outreach running events aren't reaching non-white neighborhoods and communities. Maybe instead of waiting for the bureaucracy to be fixed to their liking, these avid runners with time on their hands could recognize an untapped market, start their own organization, host their own races, and earn their own money. Disrupt the status quo rather than whine about it.

I mean, being told your natural hair isn't professional is a pretty loud dog whistle... it's pretty obvious that these employees are scared of retaliation.

First, that is just some secondhand unsubstantiated rumor. Second, I assume the term "chemical" means hair gel or sculpting lotion so why use a term that makes it sounds like someone was ordered to pour acid on his or her scalp? Third, assuming at least part of this unsubstantiated rumor is true, sorry to break it to you, but it's perfectly normal for a company to have grooming standards. The Yankees allow no facial hair (other than mustaches) and it doesn't matter how much the player is getting paid. They don't allow hair below the collar either. Guess what? All of those beards and ponytails Yankees have had to chop off are "natural hair" too and nobody has an issue with it. Good luck showing up to a white collar job without shaving or with hair down to your mid back and that's all "natural hair" too.

Current NYRR employe...I have a feeling you will be former NYRR employee in the near future.

As a non-skinny , non-white, non-blonde non-male non-leadership former nyrr employee I can't agree with any of this, except that the deadlines were ridiculous. I also no longer work there nor am I in touch with anyone who does, and so have no skin in the game. More importantly I strongly disagree with the approach of anonymous petitions to fire someone. How can that not be personal? Its an assertion that is as ridiculous as the deadline were. The petition isn't demanding that a culture issue is addressed, that there is an oversight board, or an investigation into the truth, it's to fire someone. It's hard to see past a clear personal target to consider the possibility that there might have been some kind of culture shift after I left.

Sorry, I just have to say this. I went on Glassdoor, where employees and former employees post their gripes about their jobs (mostly - some are complementary). I read all the way back to 2015 when Capiraso was hired. Do you know how many complained about discrimination or harassment? Two, and both of them were posted after the layoffs. The remainder of the complaints are about being overworked, which I agree with, and about favoritism, which I just don't know enough about to comment on but I could see that being the case.

To whoever you are that posted that petition and is launching this online campaign to remove Capiraso, I sincerely hope you are not using the important #BLM and #Metoo movements to exact a retribution for your own personal agenda. If you were not interested in retribution, your petition would be aimed at the board taking the complaints seriously and solving the problem, not firing one single individual. The board could easily make the mistake of replacing Capiraso with someone who actually is discriminatory or abusive or worse. What then? And if your complaints are legitimate, I support the cause for change but your approach is doing a disservice to the #BLM, #Metoo and your own cause. Please focus on solving the problem long term, not swapping out one employee.

It seems to me that the below are not mutually exclusive, and likely true.

1--Institutional sexism and racism exist in most if not all major American organizations, corporations, associations, etc.

2--The NYRR probably harbors some institutional sexism and racism, or at least feels that way to some employees.

3--The NYRR has done more for women's running, youth running, and Black and other diverse groups than any other running organization in the U.S.

Amby gives some good perspective.

At the same time, Sarah Lorge Butler has a well-researched lengthy article in Runners World on this. She spoke to a lot of NYRR employees and former employees and this does not sound like one or two disgruntled employees. Some serious allegations: "In the interviews with Runner’s World, NYRR employees described a culture where it was difficult for people of color to earn promotions, while their white counterparts rose up the ranks."

https://www.runnersworld.com/news/a34525744/nyrr-allegations-of-racism-sexism-in-the-workplace/