Happy #BlackHistoryMonth !

@mekkaokereke Choosing a bicycle (when one has other options) takes the strength (love, hope, courage) to relinquish a form of power, and the cult of the individual, as embodied by the automobile. People are not good at giving things up!

@mekkaokereke @CelloMomOnCars I completely agree, except that you can step down your bike and end bearing discrimination, whereas you cannot change your skin color or gender.

@le_bleu @mekkaokereke

That's if you're privileged enough to have the car as an option as well as the bike or your feet.

But those among us who are too young to drive, to old to drive, too poor to drive, or don't have the required documentation, don't have the option to change transportation mode.

It's your feet, your bike, or someone else's car.

And don't start me on public transit.

@eric @gbargoud @mekkaokereke @patterfloof @chloeraccoon

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pRPduRHBhHI

Here‘s a 90min deepdive why John Forester‘s ideas are dangerous to cyclists and ruined cycling in the US for a lot of people.

@mekkaokereke few things radicalize a white American faster than the real-time realization that cops don't give a federal fuck about their stolen bike, and, in fact, the cop who showed up is visible annoyed about the proceeding paperwork.

I've said on here before, that I love the transformative power bikes have on how people think about interacting with each other‍️️

Having a bike stolen resets a white US person's understanding of what cops do and do not do.

Commuting on a bike resets a white US person's understanding of racist infrastructure.

I love bikes, especially cargo bikes and attachments for kids, because it's only about a 5 year learning journey for white folk from

"I'm not political."

To

‍️"Hey Mekka! I bought a cargo bike! It's so much fun!"

To

‍️"🤬Man, Robert Moses was a %!#!#&@)+ for real! $#&* him and his momma!"

@CelloMomOnCars @le_bleu

To be clear, I'm also talking very explicitly about people on bikes and seeing hostile infrastructure, wondering things like "Why did they build it that way?!" And "Who could possibly oppose a protected bike lane connecting this suburb to this part of downtown? Why would anyone not want that?" And coming face to face with explicitly racist city planning decisions, both in the past, and present today.

In some cases the main reason it's not easy to bike from your home to your train station, is because some racist person knows that Black people have bikes too, and doesn't want it to be easy or safe to get from their house to your house without a car.‍️

https://archive.pinupmagazine.org/articles/jones-beach-robert-moses-segregation-design#18

@CelloMomOnCars @le_bleu

To be clear, I'm also talking very explicitly about people on bikes and seeing hostile infrastructure, wondering things like "Why did they build it that way?!" And "Who could possibly oppose a protected bike lane connecting this suburb to this part of downtown? Why would anyone not want that?" And coming face to face with explicitly racist city planning decisions, both in the past, and present today.

In some cases the main reason it's not easy to bike from your home to your train station, is because some racist person knows that Black people have bikes too, and doesn't want it to be easy or safe to get from their house to your house without a car.‍️

https://archive.pinupmagazine.org/articles/jones-beach-robert-moses-segregation-design#18

@mekkaokereke @CelloMomOnCars @le_bleu There are people who simply hate bikes and cyclists. If you ride, you have unfortunately met them. They consider cycling advocates elitists. I sort of see where they're coming from, in that I might hate cyclists too if I commuted to work 90 minutes each way and was slowed at the end by a bike-lane-inspired lane narrowing.

I've said on here before, that I love the transformative power bikes have on how people think about interacting with each other‍️️

Having a bike stolen resets a white US person's understanding of what cops do and do not do.

Commuting on a bike resets a white US person's understanding of racist infrastructure.

I love bikes, especially cargo bikes and attachments for kids, because it's only about a 5 year learning journey for white folk from

"I'm not political."

To

‍️"Hey Mekka! I bought a cargo bike! It's so much fun!"

To

‍️"🤬Man, Robert Moses was a %!#!#&@)+ for real! $#&* him and his momma!"

@mekkaokereke every guy I know that rides (myself included) has also learned being a vulnerable road user really gives you a tiny window into how the world treats women. "you got hit by a car? what were you wearing? what were you doing at the time to deserve it?"

@mathowie @mekkaokereke yeah, I know multiple people who had that experience where a cop either invented or accepted a lie to protect a driver and realized that, yeah, if you don’t have a camera or find witnesses who’ll be taken seriously the official report will be a complete lie.

This story got a ton of attention locally and a lot of women/black folks were … unsurprised:

https://ggwash.org/view/31600/it-must-have-been-your-fault-cmon-you-are-a-biker

@mathowie @mekkaokereke yeah, I know multiple people who had that experience where a cop either invented or accepted a lie to protect a driver and realized that, yeah, if you don’t have a camera or find witnesses who’ll be taken seriously the official report will be a complete lie.

This story got a ton of attention locally and a lot of women/black folks were … unsurprised:

https://ggwash.org/view/31600/it-must-have-been-your-fault-cmon-you-are-a-biker

I've said on here before, that I love the transformative power bikes have on how people think about interacting with each other‍️️

Having a bike stolen resets a white US person's understanding of what cops do and do not do.

Commuting on a bike resets a white US person's understanding of racist infrastructure.

I love bikes, especially cargo bikes and attachments for kids, because it's only about a 5 year learning journey for white folk from

"I'm not political."

To

‍️"Hey Mekka! I bought a cargo bike! It's so much fun!"

To

‍️"🤬Man, Robert Moses was a %!#!#&@)+ for real! $#&* him and his momma!"

@mekkaokereke

I spent two months in Columbus, Ohio back in 2008.

Speaking as a German bicycle commuter, the lack of bicycle accommodation in that city was... disturbing.

@fromjason @mekkaokereke
The Project 529 bike theft prevention project in Vancouver cut bike theft by almost half and returns stolen bikes by the thousands (rather than auctioning them off like most police departments)

Bike theft is a huge economic issue, but police departments hate to put any effort into it, even though a tiny investment is proven to pay off

Not to absolve Vancouver’s Police Department, with one of the highest budgets in North America garnered on anti-homeless campaigns

@AccordionBruce @fromjason @mekkaokereke that project is really interesting because the officer that started it tried to approach a bunch of other police departments around North America. None of them were interested. Police just don’t care about stopping bike theft.

@sidereal @fromjason @mekkaokereke
I searched and they have set up a “franchise” network in a few other cities now

They make it as easy as possible with apps and pre-made websites

It requires cops to coordinate with city governments and community bike shops (none of whom are used to that frankly)

So yeah, who wants to do that to significantly reduce a preventable crime that has a huge economic impact?

I've said on here before, that I love the transformative power bikes have on how people think about interacting with each other‍️️

Having a bike stolen resets a white US person's understanding of what cops do and do not do.

Commuting on a bike resets a white US person's understanding of racist infrastructure.

I love bikes, especially cargo bikes and attachments for kids, because it's only about a 5 year learning journey for white folk from

"I'm not political."

To

‍️"Hey Mekka! I bought a cargo bike! It's so much fun!"

To

‍️"🤬Man, Robert Moses was a %!#!#&@)+ for real! $#&* him and his momma!"

@alison @mekkaokereke @le_bleu

There are people who call themselves "avid cyclists". They have expensive bikes and wear biking clothes. They have the leisure and the money to enjoy biking as a recreation.

I don't know how this group gets melded with the people who must bike because they can't or choose not to, for one reason or another, drive a car, and use their bikes as transportation not for recreation. This group is significantly larger than the first group, but nobody wants to see them.