One of the great things about cycling, at least for me, is that it offers a way of escaping, if only temporarily, the stresses of daily life and the ills that afflict this world.
Perhaps I can say such a thing because I am white. Nothing, it seems, can free Blacks and Hispanics--especially those who are young and male--from the yoke of lasso of racism, especially its noose of racial profiling.
No, not even cycling can free young people of color from those things. If anything, riding a bike might make them targets for cops on the hunt for tickets to meet their quotas.
At least, that's how things seem to work in Chicago. Recently, the Tribune reported that 56 percent of all 2017 bike citations were issued in Black-majority neighborhoods, 24 percent in Latino/a-majority communities and only 18 percent in areas populated mainly by Whites. That, in a city where the proportion of non-Hispanic Black and White people is almost exactly the same, at just over 32 percent for each race. Hispanics make up 28 percent of the Windy City's population, but they are more dispersed than Blacks throughout the city, so it's fair to say that those who live in Latino/a-majority neighborhoods are bearing disproportionately ticketed.
North Lawndale, where 89 percent of the residents are Black and relatively few cycle, got more bike tickets than any other Chicago neighborhood. Lincoln Park--a neighborhood that is either "bike friendly" or the home of "Trixies" and "Chads", depending on your persepctive--got only five. Yes, you read that right: 5, as many fingers as you have on your hand! Oh, and Lincoln Park is 81 percent white.
Perhaps I can say such a thing because I am white. Nothing, it seems, can free Blacks and Hispanics--especially those who are young and male--from the yoke of lasso of racism, especially its noose of racial profiling.
No, not even cycling can free young people of color from those things. If anything, riding a bike might make them targets for cops on the hunt for tickets to meet their quotas.
At least, that's how things seem to work in Chicago. Recently, the Tribune reported that 56 percent of all 2017 bike citations were issued in Black-majority neighborhoods, 24 percent in Latino/a-majority communities and only 18 percent in areas populated mainly by Whites. That, in a city where the proportion of non-Hispanic Black and White people is almost exactly the same, at just over 32 percent for each race. Hispanics make up 28 percent of the Windy City's population, but they are more dispersed than Blacks throughout the city, so it's fair to say that those who live in Latino/a-majority neighborhoods are bearing disproportionately ticketed.
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| This caricature of Major Taylor appeared in the 26 April 1894 issue of Cycling Life. |
North Lawndale, where 89 percent of the residents are Black and relatively few cycle, got more bike tickets than any other Chicago neighborhood. Lincoln Park--a neighborhood that is either "bike friendly" or the home of "Trixies" and "Chads", depending on your persepctive--got only five. Yes, you read that right: 5, as many fingers as you have on your hand! Oh, and Lincoln Park is 81 percent white.
