Cycling Forums - View Single Post - Two cyclists attacked and beaten in Portland

01-16-2007, 09:36 AM

Mark Hickey wrote:
:: tomkeats@bud.garden.local (Tom Keats) wrote:
::
::: So I have the feeling these victims may have been
::: picked-on because they were /perceived/ as "rich chicks"
::: with fancy, expensive bikes, sticking their /perceived/
::: Conspicuous Consumerism in other people's faces.
:::
::: Or maybe the perps thought the cyclists were gay,
::: and it's a case of [misguided] gay-bashing?
:::
::: I dunno.
:::
::: But as a life-long city boy, I do know when I'm
::: confrontin'. And I know when to back-off.
:::
::: I guess these ladies didn't.
::
:: Would you say the same about if the victims had been black and a
:: group of affluent white girls had attacked them because of their
:: hip-hop dress and attitude? If only they had "backed off"...
::
:: Exactly how DO you "back off" when your "insult" is being white and
:: riding a bike? Personally, I'm not quite sure how to do that. I've
:: ridden thousands of miles through predominantly black neighborhoods
:: and never realized that I needed to "back off".

I took it to mean use some caution in a potentially dangerous situation.
The backing off part would be to alter your course, speed up, etc., rather
than just riding into trouble.

Again, we can't know for sure that this was only racially motivated. The
trigger might have been something else and the racial slurs came "just
because.".

01-16-2007, 09:36 AM	#31 (permalink)
Roger Zoul Guest Posts: n/a	Re: Two cyclists attacked and beaten in Portland Mark Hickey wrote: :: tomkeats@bud.garden.local (Tom Keats) wrote: :: ::: So I have the feeling these victims may have been ::: picked-on because they were /perceived/ as "rich chicks" ::: with fancy, expensive bikes, sticking their /perceived/ ::: Conspicuous Consumerism in other people's faces. ::: ::: Or maybe the perps thought the cyclists were gay, ::: and it's a case of [misguided] gay-bashing? ::: ::: I dunno. ::: ::: But as a life-long city boy, I do know when I'm ::: confrontin'. And I know when to back-off. ::: ::: I guess these ladies didn't. :: :: Would you say the same about if the victims had been black and a :: group of affluent white girls had attacked them because of their :: hip-hop dress and attitude? If only they had "backed off"... :: :: Exactly how DO you "back off" when your "insult" is being white and :: riding a bike? Personally, I'm not quite sure how to do that. I've :: ridden thousands of miles through predominantly black neighborhoods :: and never realized that I needed to "back off". I took it to mean use some caution in a potentially dangerous situation. The backing off part would be to alter your course, speed up, etc., rather than just riding into trouble. Again, we can't know for sure that this was only racially motivated. The trigger might have been something else and the racial slurs came "just because.".