Others are going long this summer

Monday, May 22, 2000

By KRISTIN DIZON

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

....
Arthur Fernandez Scarberry isn't raising money on the cross-continental Spirit Run. He and eight other runners of varied racial and ethnic backgrounds from around the country are running across the United States and Canada to raise awareness of the oneness of humanity.

The nine runners, from ages 15 to 30, are all members of the Baha'i faith, whose message focuses on harmony among races.

"Typically, I don't like to run just for the sake of running," said Fernandez Scarberry, a social worker at the state Department of Social and Human Services. "We're no longer living in a time where words are enough. We must live through action."

They will each run six miles a day in one-mile increments with a support team of 10. Their journey will take them through many Indian reservations and communities that are offering hospitality.

"The ultimate goal is to show that all the races can get along and that there's power in joining hands," said Nancy Griffith, one of the run's organizers. "That the color of your skin, where you were born, is all really irrelevant. We're all one people inhabiting one planet."

A spiritual gathering and send-off will be May 28 at the Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center in Discovery Park. The runners will leave the next morning at dawn.

For more information, see www.spiritrun.org