hi_falootin





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 the few areas in society that has exactly zero racial, ethnic, or gender barriers to participation! Any adult or child can pick up a decent used bike for just a few bucks. And every adult and child knows what a bike is because even the poorest or most recent immigrant kid has ridden a Big Wheel. Cultural differences funnel people of different ethnicities into different areas, but to suggest that minorities are somehow being "left out" of bicycling is more than ridiculous.



-Sue





Cultural differences funnel people of different ethnicities into different areas



Cultural differences funnel people of different ethnicities into different areas



Cultural differences funnel people of different ethnicities into different areas



WHAT.



So yeah, this whole letter is a train-wreck of white privilege, but that has got to be one of the worst strings of words I've seen all year. After the Big Wheel line you're like "OH SERIOUSLY NO" and then it just gets WORSE.



I've seen a fair amount of white privilege in the Portland bike community blogosphere, which yeah, I think is maybe a turn-off for potential-cyclists of color (which wasn't addressed in the original article, but I'm not talking about that right now)...but now, I feel a bit bad for the bike community now for having people like this representing them D:



I really hope this letter was printed ironically, though that doesn't really make it better. 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:Cultural differences funnel people of different ethnicities into different areasWHAT.So yeah, this whole letter is a train-wreck of white privilege, but that has got to be one of the worst strings of words I've seen all year. After the Big Wheel line you're like "OH SERIOUSLY NO" and then it just gets WORSE.I've seen a fair amount of white privilege in the Portland bikeblogosphere, which yeah, I think is maybe a turn-off for potential-cyclists of color (which wasn't addressed in the original article, but I'm not talking about that right now)...but now, I feel a bit bad for the bike community now for having people like this representing them D:I really hope this letter was printed ironically, though that doesn't really make it better. Tags: white people! 16 comments

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