When a (n-word) comes in with a nice bike, I know he didn't buy it. I know it's a stolen bike.
The owner of a shop in my undergraduate university town made that pronouncement. I hadn't thought about him--probably gone--and the shop--long gone--in a long time, until I wrote posts about Black and Native American cyclists being cited at much higher rates than White riders for helmet infractions.
I got to thinking about it, again, when I came across a report of a study, "Where Do We Go From Here?" People for Bikes conducted it, and Charles T. Brown of Rutgers University's Vooorhees Transportation Center led it.
Among its conclusions: The increased popularity of cycling--accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic--in US cities has largely been a White phenomenon. Focus groups conducted in ten cities reveal that, in addition to economic barriers (something I mentioned in my earlier posts), non-Whites, and Blacks in particular, cite a non-inclusive cycling culture and infrastructure. Some participants said they saw cycling as a "white thing," in part because of images of cyclists projected, consciously or unconsciously, by the media and the cycling community itself. "Whenever I see pictures of cyclists or anyone on a bicycle," one participant explained, "I just think it's not for me as someone who is over a size 10 and Black."
(By the way, I am over a size 10 and probably always will be, no matter how much weight I lose!)
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| Pedal Possse Divas. Photo by David Swanson, for the Philadelphia Inquirer |
The study's conclusions are all valid. Our culture needs to be more inclusive, and its infrastructure more accessible. But I also can't help but wonder whether some non-White people--young Black men in particular--are deterred because of how the police and criminal justice system treat them when they ride. In addition to being disproportionately cited for not wearing helmets in places like Seattle, they are more likely to be ticketed for violations like riding on the sidewalk* --or simply stopped for "suspicion" if they're riding a nice bike.
In short, as the People for Bikes study concludes, we won't see more non-White cyclists if Blacks, Native Americans and others don't see themselves in images of cycling--or sipping lattes in cycling cafes. But I think the changes have to include not treating non-White cyclists as criminals when they ride the same bikes in the same ways as White cyclists.
Our bikes come in all sizes and colors. (So do many cyclists' jerseys!) Why shouldn't our images of cyclists?
*--Every cyclist I've met, or heard of, who's been cited for riding on the sidewalk in New York City is not White.
