- Richard Demsick, @Jestertotheking on TikTok, filmed himself running through his neighborhood carrying a television.
- The 34-year-old former pastor wanted to prove that "looking like a suspect" wasn't an excuse for the killing of
Ahmaud Arbery , a black man who was shot dead in February while out for a jog. - Demsick's video has gotten more than 6 million views and has spurred conversations about social justice.
- Demsick said that while he was running carrying the TV, while shirtless with a backward hat, his neighbors smiled and waved.
- He made the two-mile jog on Friday as a part of the
#runwithmaud movement. - Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
When 34-year-old Richard Demsick first learned of the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, he immediately thought about the privilege he has as a white man.
Arbery, a 25-year-old black man, was shot dead while jogging in February after a chase by two men — Gregory and Travis McMichael — who said he looked like a break-in suspect.
In a video that trended after his death, the McMichaels could be seen pursuing Arbery in their truck, while Arbery ran. Travis McMichael left the truck holding a gun and, after a brief struggle, Arbery was killed. The McMichaels later told police they believed Arbery resembled a man behind a string of residential break-ins.
Demsick, a former pastor based in Vero Beach, Florida, felt like it didn't matter what he wore or how "suspicious" he looked, his whiteness alone was enough to protect him from meeting the same fate as Arbery.
He decided to prove that Friday during the #RunWithMaud movement, a virtual protest in honor of what would have been Arbery's 26th birthday.
"I just started crying when I just saw this poor young man running — as I have thousands of times in my life — get shot down," Demsick told Insider. He said he thought "maybe I should run with a TV to show that being a suspicious character isn't enough that someone should be shot down. Being a white person, that's just not going to happen to me."
So he did.
On Friday, Demsick took ran the 2.23 miles through his Vero Beach, Florida, neighborhood while carrying a flat-screen TV.
His neighborhood, he noted, recently did have a string of thefts. Despite that, his neighbors waved and smiled while he jogged.
"Not a soul" even approached him afterward to ask what he was doing, he said.
Demsick recorded parts of his run for a TikTok video that has since been viewed more than 1.2 million times.
"Alright, I figured it out. I've got my hat on backwards, I'm shirtless like I'm on some episode of 'Cops,' I'm running with a TV. Someone's going to stop me now, for sure," Demsick in the video. "Cause, if not, what was the problem with Ahmaud?"
@jestertotheking ##irunwithmaud part two! Really thought I figured it out guys but made it home safe after my 2.23 mile run ♂️ ##runwithmaud ##runwithahmaud ##fyp
♬ original sound - jestertotheking
In a follow-up video, in honor of Mother's Day, Demsick asked his mom whether she was afraid for him while he went on the run with the TV, or if she thought the police would be called.
"No, of course not," she said.
"Huh, I wonder why that is," he responded.
Black mothers, Demsick told Insider, would likely feel differently.
@jestertotheking Dedicated to all black mothers especially Ahmaud Arberys’ we can not understand your pain but we will not forget your story. Prayin ##blacklivesmatter
♬ original sound - jestertotheking
Demsick knows he'll never truly understand what it's like to walk in the shoes of a black man
Demsick is passionate about social justice issues.
He grew up in the suburbs of Detroit and attended dance competitions in the city. Most of the friends he danced with were black, and many came from impoverished neighborhoods. Even though Demsick was the "unique duck" in that community, he was welcomed with open arms and started to learn about the struggles his friends faced.
After becoming a pastor at what he described as a primarily upper-class conservative church in Florida, Demsick launched an outreach ministry made up of individuals who were struggling with homelessness and other issues.
In it, he talked about racism and the political divide.
Demsick said one of the most powerful things his parents taught him was to take the time to listen to people who come from different backgrounds and beliefs.
When doing so, though, it's important to remember to resist owning the struggles as your own, he said.
For example, he said, in discussions about the Arbery case with some white acquaintances, they have offered what they thought they would do if they were confronted with a gun like he was.
Some have told him that they wouldn't have struggled with the gun, and instead waited for police to sort out the confusion.
Demsick, though, said that no matter how much people might try to understand what that would be like, as a white person, that's not possible.
"If you're a white person trying to put yourself in black people's shoes, you're just a white person in a black person's shoes," he said.
The response to the video has been overwhelmingly positive
Demsick said that after initially having the idea about the run, he almost backed out because he was worried people would misunderstand it as him making light of a tragic situation.
When he woke up for the run on Friday, he felt like he had to do it.
So far, the responses have been overwhelmingly positive, Demsick said.
The videos have sparked a lot of conversations, and over the weekend he was invited to be a guest in a video conference that discussed the treatment of African-Americans in the United States.
"It was a privilege to be in that conversation," he said.
"People have been incredibly kind, undeservedly kind," Demsick added. "There are people who are daily working trying to correct the injustice, I just made a video."
Still, Demsick said he's interested in continuing to use his social media platform for good.
One idea he has is to film himself picking a lock at someone's home — who he gets permission from first — to see if there is any reaction from the neighbors.
"Nobody would call the cops," he hypothesized. "We all know that if I looked different, that would be a very different story."
- Read more:
- Investigators who arrested a father and son in connection with the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery say 'probable cause was clear to our agents pretty quickly'
- Gregory and Travis McMichael arrested in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, who was shot dead while jogging unarmed in Georgia
- 2 men were arrested in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery. The attorney for Arbery's father says if it were Arbery and his father who killed a white jogger they would have been arrested on the spot.
- Family and friends of shooting victim Ahmaud Arbery are honoring his life with a 2.23-mile run after public outrage over his death led to 2 arrests
- LeBron James enraged by the shooting death of an unarmed 25-year-old black man in southern Georgia, says: 'We're literally hunted everyday'