Sister Act

In a time of increasingly overt racism, Sonja Herbert founded Black Girl Pilates as a safe space for African-American teachers of the method. Because #blackbodiesmatter too.

- Anne Marie O’Connor

THOUGH RACISM HAS ALWAYS BEEN A PART IN AMERICAN LIFE, the last few years have brought it more and more to the surface.

Those issues don’t end at the studio door.

“Even though we’re in fitness, we’re not separated from racism, white privilege and white supremacy,” says Sonja Herbert, an instructor at Uptown Pilates in New York and the founder of Black Girl Pilates, a support group for African-American teachers and devotees of the method. Racism “looks the same in fitness as it does any other part of our life,” she points out.

It’s not always blatant, but its effects are still demoralizing, she says. Sometimes it takes subtle forms, like at the beginning of a class, “a student will question who the instructor is, even though it’s pretty obvious,” she reports. “Or they’ll say things, like, this is actually a really good class,” implying their surprise even if they don’t come out and say it.