“Well, that’s because it’s not a liberal shithole!” That phrase graced my ears this weekend as I stepped into a packed car rental shuttle at the St. Louis airport. Off to Columbia, Mo. to visit my mother for the holiday, I crossed paths with a, let’s say,
Abdul, I'm sorry you had that encounter, but it may not have been because of anything but that guy's feeling that HE in his motor vehicle OWNED the road. I was an avid bicyclist, joining in big bicycle tours, leading and organizing annual tours for up to about 350 bicyclists for a week here in Michigan. And long, "loaded" with panniers & camping gear, tours solo or with a friends here in the States, Canada (Nova Scotia, PEI), NZ, Australia, Ireland, mainland Europe. This began in the 1970s and continued until about 2006. Aggression by pick-up drivers for bicyclists has always been there. In the early 1990s a Florida friend & I were riding on a country highway without adequate shoulders, in the panhandle of Florida. She told me if she hollered "Shoulder" that I should leave the road immediately. And a while later she did. And a pick-up sped thru the space we would have been riding. Here in Michigan in the mid-90s a rider in Muskegon was harassed, followed into a neighborhood, and nearly pinned against a tree well off the neighborhood street.
I live in Traverse City, which has been a civil town with many wonderful people. But a few years ago, well into my 80s with those annoying fragile bones, I decided the temperament of drivers was becoming more agressive and I hung my bike in the garage.
It frightens, and angers me, that violence has become a real tool of people who object to losing what they have considered their "rights". I hope we can keep our democracy, and adequate curtail climate change -- with all the changes in how we ALL live to make survival of all life happen. Thank you for all you are doing to help lead us forward. Your appearance in Traverse City during the campaign for Governor made me a supporter.
As an avid cyclist I haven't been told to go back to my country but I've experienced some of the same issues with people and trucks. the fact that you are a person of color probably exacerbated the situation but there's a sense of entitlement by these white men in big trucks on the road where they don't even want pedestrians or cyclists even share the world with you
I see this attitude and threat in rural areas which are likely Republican and Trump areas much more prevalently than than I feel threatened by cars in the city.
the sense of entitlement of course spills over into every other element of their life
This Us Versus Them attitude really started in my opinion in 2008 when Obama ran for president and you kept hearing the phrase take back our country. I always want to ask him who are you taking a back from? I live here too
As ugly as the rhetoric and actions may be, thank you for reminding us that people are redeemable. We gotta keep the faith.So relieved your brush with the motorist didn't end up badly. We need you!
As someone who used to ride a bicycle to work, I can share some of same sort of road conflict stories. I've had to take evasive action even in a cross-walk when I had the right of way. Drivers assume that the right hand turn is open if they don't see another motorized vehicle coming from the left. They literally never even look to the right, I've watched their eyes. That's not necessarily a racialized behavior, but it says something about how we develop public consciousness. It's true more so for some than for others, but this is an example of the fact that there are scenarios where the majority literally doesn't even see you. If you want to push that conversation a little further, ask yourself why we allow this kind of boorish behavior to be codified in budgets and public policy. Why do we design roads that advantage the fastest, the biggest, and the most financially blessed when the majority really needs something else?
Abdul, I'm sorry you had that encounter, but it may not have been because of anything but that guy's feeling that HE in his motor vehicle OWNED the road. I was an avid bicyclist, joining in big bicycle tours, leading and organizing annual tours for up to about 350 bicyclists for a week here in Michigan. And long, "loaded" with panniers & camping gear, tours solo or with a friends here in the States, Canada (Nova Scotia, PEI), NZ, Australia, Ireland, mainland Europe. This began in the 1970s and continued until about 2006. Aggression by pick-up drivers for bicyclists has always been there. In the early 1990s a Florida friend & I were riding on a country highway without adequate shoulders, in the panhandle of Florida. She told me if she hollered "Shoulder" that I should leave the road immediately. And a while later she did. And a pick-up sped thru the space we would have been riding. Here in Michigan in the mid-90s a rider in Muskegon was harassed, followed into a neighborhood, and nearly pinned against a tree well off the neighborhood street.
I live in Traverse City, which has been a civil town with many wonderful people. But a few years ago, well into my 80s with those annoying fragile bones, I decided the temperament of drivers was becoming more agressive and I hung my bike in the garage.
It frightens, and angers me, that violence has become a real tool of people who object to losing what they have considered their "rights". I hope we can keep our democracy, and adequate curtail climate change -- with all the changes in how we ALL live to make survival of all life happen. Thank you for all you are doing to help lead us forward. Your appearance in Traverse City during the campaign for Governor made me a supporter.
Keep on, keeping on!!
June
As an avid cyclist I haven't been told to go back to my country but I've experienced some of the same issues with people and trucks. the fact that you are a person of color probably exacerbated the situation but there's a sense of entitlement by these white men in big trucks on the road where they don't even want pedestrians or cyclists even share the world with you
I see this attitude and threat in rural areas which are likely Republican and Trump areas much more prevalently than than I feel threatened by cars in the city.
the sense of entitlement of course spills over into every other element of their life
This Us Versus Them attitude really started in my opinion in 2008 when Obama ran for president and you kept hearing the phrase take back our country. I always want to ask him who are you taking a back from? I live here too
As ugly as the rhetoric and actions may be, thank you for reminding us that people are redeemable. We gotta keep the faith.So relieved your brush with the motorist didn't end up badly. We need you!
As someone who used to ride a bicycle to work, I can share some of same sort of road conflict stories. I've had to take evasive action even in a cross-walk when I had the right of way. Drivers assume that the right hand turn is open if they don't see another motorized vehicle coming from the left. They literally never even look to the right, I've watched their eyes. That's not necessarily a racialized behavior, but it says something about how we develop public consciousness. It's true more so for some than for others, but this is an example of the fact that there are scenarios where the majority literally doesn't even see you. If you want to push that conversation a little further, ask yourself why we allow this kind of boorish behavior to be codified in budgets and public policy. Why do we design roads that advantage the fastest, the biggest, and the most financially blessed when the majority really needs something else?
Peter Boogaart