I’m not friends with many in the public safety industry. There’s a lot of racism and sexism that exists within it that I am consistently fighting as I climb the ranks. I have however befriended a few good men and women, their spouses and their children along the way. That literal handful, I consider my brothers and sisters. Working out and physical conditioning has become even more important to me now... it’s personal... because I worry about the safety of my sons and their friends... my brothers and my male cousins... my daddy and my uncles... my guy in Savannah and his son... and the Black men I work with. The tall, muscular and intimidating Black men that are fetishized but even more so feared. So I want them in tip top shape in case they ever have to defend themselves physically against racism. It is my duty as Captain to stay in their ass. I’m not afraid of a fire taking their lives. Fire and tactical incidents can be fought with water hydraulics, engineering, strategy and tactics. I’m afraid of a racism taking their lives. So we condition. We workout. We breathe. We stretch. We lift. We practice mindfulness. We tell each other that we love them. We check in on each other’s families. I pray for them, I make sure they eat well, I make sure their mental states are stable, I build them up with positive affirmations, I feed them farm fresh shit and they have access to me as a priest and my African traditional spiritual tools. I’m doing what I can to ensure that I don’t have to. I’m not putting on my Class A to bury none of them. These are my few good men. These are my brothers. My sisters. I go hard for mine. We going hard. It’s personal. #runwithmaud #willingandable #themarathoncontinues 📸 @berettascottking https://www.instagram.com/p/B_5E_emJxot/?igshid=1t1haf4ds3fkk