“The sharks are circling.”
On Saturday, a fellow cyclist made that comment in reference to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a.k.a. ICE, during the Alex Pretti memorial ride. She has family in the Minneapolis-St.Paul area, where residents, many of whom had not previously participated in a demonstration, are resisting vigorously and visibly. But the now-most-hated government agents in the USA are also accosting and arresting “suspicious” people all over the nation. My friendly acquaintance believes “it’s just a matter of time” before a “surge” comes to my hometown, New York City.
Quite understandably, she and other riders didn’t want to be photographed. While we want to show our solidarity, some fear—rightly—negative consequences given the current political climate and the industries in which some work.
And some might become targets for looking “suspicious.” Given this Administration’s hostility to cyclists, spinning two pedals to propel two wheels instead of pressing one pedal to propel four wheels could be seen as a subversive act.
Perhaps it is. But if I am resisting anything, I am riding against the tyranny of automobiles and fossil fuels—which contributes to climate change and economic disparities that fuel (pun not intended) the desperate traffic that ICE is tasked with stopping.
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