PORTLAND, Ore. (PORTLAND TRIBUNE) — When a man on a bicycle blasted a Northeast Portland family with a powerful pepper spray in mid-September, Taz Loomans took it personally.

Portland police said the Sept. 13 attack on Northeast Ninth Avenue was racially motivated (the family was African-American, the attacker was white or Hispanic). The attacker pedaled away on a road bike after shouting a racial epithet at the family, according to police.

Loomans, a woman of color who lives in the Hawthorne area and is an avid bike rider, didn’t like the message about bicyclists that the attack sent the victims. She decided to send another message with a rally Sunday afternoon near the site of the attack.

“I wanted the family that was attacked to know that the cycling community stands 100 percent behind them and is 100 percent against the hate that was perpetrated,” said Loomans, an architect with Communitecture in Southeast Portland who also writes the Blooming Rock blog. “I wanted to use the cycling platform to very clearly state an anti-racist message. Because the hate crime occurred on a bike, it is an opportunity for the cycling community to speak out against racism in Portland.”

So, from 2 to 4 p.m. Sept. 25, Loomans and dozens of other bicyclists plan a short ride through the Northeast Ninth Avenue neighborhood to show support for the family. A Facebook page promoting the rally shows nearly 100 people interested in attending the event.

“I want to bring people together at the event, white, black, other people of color to stand for love and peace,” Loomans said. “I want people to come away with the message that the cycling community cares about more than putting in bike lanes, that it cares about equity and racial justice and will stand up against racial injustice.”‘This horrible man’

Portland police said the attack happened at about 9:16 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 13, in the 5500 block of Northeast Ninth Avenue. A 62-year-old woman and her 32-year-old daughter were waiting with the daughter’s three children at a car when a man riding south on a bicycle passed the vehicle, turned around, rode back to the family and sprayed what police said was a powerful pepper spray, probably from a can of bear repellant, into the car through a sunroof.

The man shouted at least one racial slur before riding away. He was described as a chubby white or Hispanic man in his mid-20s, about 5 foot 9 weighing 160 pounds, wearing black spandex-style bicycle clothing and a gray and black helmet.

A white box of tools on the back of his bicycle fell off and police found it in the neighborhood. There was nothing to identify the man in the box, police said.

The three boys, ages 7, 11 and 12, were treated by paramedics at the scene for exposure to pepper spray. One of the boys was taken to a local hospital emergency room for treatment, where witnesses said fumes from the spray on his clothing were still strong enough to choke nurses and doctors around him.

Detectives are investigating the incident as a bias crime.

Neighbors and friends set up a You Caring crowdfunding page to raise $15,000 to help the single mother purchase a new car (her car was totaled because of the spray) and buy groceries. The woman is renting a car.

In a message posted on the You Caring site, the boys’ mother thanked people for their “love, support and donations.”

“We are waiting for the day when this horrible man is caught, so other people can be at ease and we can have justice for my family,” the woman said.Ride’s new urgency

Loomans said she’s worried the attack could add to resentment of Portland’s bike community, which “is very white and usually privileged.”

“I think a hate crime like this done by a cyclist could aggravate people’s already negative opinion of cyclists,” she said.

The Portland Tribune is a KOIN media partner.

In light of recent police shootings of African-American men in Tulsa, Okla., and Charlotte, N.C., Loomans said Sunday’s rally takes on “a new urgency.”

“The meaning of the ride is still the same — to make a visible, loud and cohesive stand against hate,” she said. “The larger context of this ride is that we are living with a lot of racial tension in this country right now. African-Americans are victims of hate, bias and racism all the time, on an individual basis and on an institutional basis. So when something like the bear spray attack happens, we can’t treat it as an isolated incident. It is happening in a very screwed up racial environment on a national and local level specific to Portland. That’s why I think standing up against bias and racism and hate and standing for racial harmony and racial justice in our communities is very important right now.”