Reflections on #BLM and the Cycling Industries Responses

Published on Patreon June 2, 2020

Hi All,  I want to share some reflections of what I'm seeing from the cycling industry and community right now. We see a lot posts of feel good vibes stances, we see brands capitalizing on Black pain, tokenizing Black athletes, and asking for their labor on how to do better. We see them capitalising on the death of another Black person and using it to perform some sort of solidarity stance to make themselves relevant. This is not good enough.

You won't see us resharing their posts. Black and Brown folks are laughing at them right now because they keep missing the point. They are STILL asking Black folks for free labor on how to respond to this movement. They are just realizing there is a problem with this industry that we have screaming at the top of our lungs about for a long time. So now you want to listen? Truth is gonna hurt and we don't care about your sorry white feelings anymore.

Here’s the thing, this industry has been abusive to marginalized people behind the scenes and in many ways part of the problem because they don’t actually value us ... or our lives. We know this very well.

We don’t want their solidarity if they aren't implementing anti-racism work in their training. We don't want their solidarity if they aren't divesting from police and racist practices. We don’t want their solidarity if they mostly work with white journalist, marketers, photographers, influencers, or athletes while dotting their campaigns with a few Black and Brown athletes which they’ve tokenized. ⁣
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They either care about marginalized people or they don’t. And from what I've experienced along with Black influencers and athletes in the sphere of influence and visibility in cycling, know that for a lot of these brands posting weird and vague messages of “support” is just an opportunity to look socially progressive while carrying on the same old #racism, #bigotry and #colonization behind the scenes. And we see you.
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We have demands coming. We are calling on the community to step up to hold brands, events, and orgs up to action. We cannot stop holding them accountable. 

Keep fighting. The conversations we've been holding for a long time are being heard.