COLUMBUS, Ohio — Daryl Murphy has always loved to run. 

What You Need To Know

  • Daryl Murphy started Miles for Justice during the 2020 protests

  • He runs a 5k every day to raise money and awareness for social justice causes

  • He's raised more than $20,000 

  • You can learn more at milesforjustice.org

​Many celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with history lessons or panel events, but Murphy does it by running. 

Murphy has always been athletic. The Sandusky native participated in every sport you could think of growing up, but it wasn’t until 2020 that running started to mean something. His runs were a way to get out of the house during the pandemic.

He was living in Los Angeles when shouts of "Black Lives Matter" for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery swept the nation. That's when Miles for Justice was born.

“I thought I could use my runs as a positive influence for that movement,” said Murphy. “I wanted to continue running every day and I told people I'm going to raise money through my run.”

One run turned into 30, and that turned into 50. People began to donate a dollar, a penny, anything for each mile Murphy ran. He’s run a 5k every day formore than 1,000 days in a row. He's donated thousands of dollars to various grass roots organizations around the country.

While every run is special, Jan. 15 — Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday — always calls for reflection.

“The trials and tribulations that Martin Luther King and everyone else around him had to go through are not the same trials and tribulations that we have to go through today, but they made so much progress so I feel like it’s on us and our generation to continue that, you know, to not go backwards,” said Murphy. 

While Dr. King’s fight in the '50s and '60s was different, Murphy said there’s still a fight to be fought. He's raising money and awareness for those who he feels are being failed by the justice system.  While change can be a long journey, it just takes one step.

“If we see something you say something, as MLK said, an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere and that’s really what I'm seeing in this case and throughout the whole Miles for Justice campaign,” said Murphy. 

You can find out more about Daryl Murphy and how to donate to his cause, by clicking here.