I have to share this.

[hi_falootin]

James pointed out this AMAZINGLY AWFUL letter in one of our local free weekly today. File it under "truly clueless white people." Seriously, check it:

DEAR MERCURY-

It's hard to believe this article ["Many Miles to Go," News, Sept 2] isn't a joke. Not enough women and minorities are riding bikes? Jesus Christ Almighty, riding a bike is one of

Comments

[rabid_bookwyrm]

Goddamn white people.

Also, the European model city bike cannot catch on fast enough. A stylish and comfortable accomadation which doesn't require silly clothing and permits transport of goods no on the person. Moar!

Really, though, Portland bike problem is not so much whitey as the hipsters. If another damn hipster on a fixie runs a red light in front of me I swear I'm gonna fuckin take matters into my own hands. And by that I mean glare and fume, because of course I STOP AT RED LIGHTS (except in the middle of the night when no one is around, but definitely in the middle of the day, DOWNTOWN) and by the time the light has changed he's usually way ahead of me.

[rabid_bookwyrm]

* goods not on the person

[hi_falootin]

Yesss, those Euro city bikes look awesome!

I am cool with blaming hipsters. I think hipsters have been responsible for a lot of racist crap lately. Like the all the Hipster headdress stuff.

[rabid_bookwyrm]

Oh no, really?

[writewrongs]

Infuriating white bullshit of the day, take one million.

[hi_falootin]

yeah, I think I've given this stuff too much of my brain power already @_@

[flourish]

ARGHHHHH

YOU FUCKER, TRY BIKING IN A SKIRT (WHICH YOU HAVE TO WEAR BECAUSE IT IS CULTURALLY APPROPRIATE IN WHITE BUSINESS WORLD) AND SEE HOW MUCH YOU GET HARASSED. ALSO, TRY DOING THAT AS A WOMAN OF COLOR JUST TO ADD A LITTLE MORE SPICE TO YOUR LIFE.

(there are plenty of other barriers too but recently my friends have realized that they get far more street harassment on bikes than otherwise, which is true in my experience, and actually part of why I don't ride a bike - and I can only imagine that it's worse as a woc because every woc I know gets more street harassment than I do in general)

[hi_falootin]

I actually think there's an interesting conflation of "safety" going on in the original article. They seem to be focusing mostly on traffic safety preventing women from riding bicycles and ignoring issues like NOT GETTING STREET-HARRASSED or FEELING SAFE RIDING IN AN UNFAMILIAR NEIGHBORHOOD/AFTER DARK

[flourish]

Man, I am so not worried about traffic safety. Maybe if I had a kid, but for me? Naw. I box, I'm way more likely to get seriously hurt boxing than in a traffic accident

[hi_falootin]

In my original sentence, I was referring to bicycle advocates in Portland and write/blog about it and their followers/commenters-I can change it to be more specific.

You comment confused me a bit I've heard you refer to the Bike Community before...I think I kind of got the phrase from you, in fact? As in "I don't really consider myself part of the bike 'community'" (extra quote there) I'm not trying to call you out, that's just how I remember us discussing it.

And I assumed by that you were referring to like, the people who participate in pedal-palooza and other bike related activities or are vocal in bike activism, on the blogs etc. That IS a community more or less, isn't it?

lol I beat you for tl;dr

[hi_falootin]

You know what, I think the term we were discussing before may have been "bike CULTURE." Which is maybe a better descriptor? I'm not clinging to the term "community" or anything, I just wanted to differentiate the bike advocates/blogger circle from Average-Jane-Bike-Commuter. And "bike/bicycle community" is a term I've seen used by bike advocates, though I'm not sure how they would specifically define it either. But I am going to explain why *I* used it

[hi_falootin]

SMART :D