Bike equity means believing the stories people have to share about what it's like for them to be in the street. There's more to safety than being seen, and we need to believe when people tell us about insecurity beyond traffic violence. Can we build common cause for safe streets that includes the fears of racial discrimination keeping so many people in their cars? What do enforcement-based approaches to traffic safety look like when they respect and address the realities of police mistrust? With insights gathered from bike/ped advocates this fall, we worked with Dr. Echo Rivera to craft images that shed light on why race matters in active transportation. As a national organization, the League of American Bicyclists has a role to play in convening tough conversations. We're going to keep this Seeing & Believing project going as we shed light on complex barriers to active transportation. -- Adonia Lugo, Ph.D., League Equity Initiative Manager Read more: http://bikeleague.org/content/seeing-believing-bike-equity

1. The policing of
communities
of color has
always had a
large impact on
HOW
we get around our
communities.
Miguel Ramos
Photo Credit: Pascal Maramis
SEEING & BELIEVING
bikeleague.org/equity
#Bikes4all

2. ...some of us believe in the free and safe movement of bodies in the environments
that they occupy whether it be cycling or other transportation.
Photo Credit: Elvert Barnes
I am constantly reminded of that when a Black mother tells me:
"every time he goes through my door I pray
there isn't something out there that
won't let him come back."
Hamzat Sani
SEEING & BELIEVING
bikeleague.org/equity
#Bikes4all

3. and that’s something people (cops included) respect. CARS CONVEY POWER
Ira Woodward
Photo Credit:
Oran Viriyincy
SEEING & BELIEVING
bikeleague.org/equity
#Bikes4all

4. Photo Credit:
Elvert Barnes
If residents
don’t feel safe in a neighborhood in general,
MORE EXPOSED
how can we possibly
encourage them to be
in that neighborhood by biking and walking more?
Matthew Palm
SEEING & BELIEVING
bikeleague.org/equity
#Bikes4all

5. What people can learn is to first question what does solidarity mean to them and
is it the same as how people of color see solidarity?
What types of actions manifest as a way to address these systemic issues? And relate it to how
they can have these conversations in their own communities.
Photo Credit:
Elvert Barnes
Not sure if bikes can play a vital role for every city,
but I see the bike as a symbol of autonomy & self-awareness,
something that many people that are privileged do not understand.
Miguel Ramos
SEEING & BELIEVING
bikeleague.org/equity
#Bikes4all

6. By allowing communities to self-determine safety issues,
we can then prioritize how we move forward and start to frame
a message of bikes as being one factor that addresses safety in a community.
Photo Credit:
David B. Gleason
We must show our solidarity for safe streets and how
that is a different experience for each community, and most importantly
building that trust & relationship to continue to
follow-up with the overall needs of a community.
Miguel Ramos
SEEING & BELIEVING
bikeleague.org/equity
#Bikes4all

7. It's important for our profession to hear that people of color in the US have good reasons to fear
being physically unprotected in our public right-of-way,
and to hear that there may be good reasons that people of color feel
biking/walking projects should have lower priority than, say,
police brutality Photo Credit: Richard Masoner
& lack of economic opportunity.
Photo Credit:
Richard Masoner
SEEING & BELIEVING
bikeleague.org/equity
#Bikes4all
Jessica Roberts

8. I don’t think we can
separate the bicycles
from the bodies that
ride them.
Some of us have bodies
that are perceived as
inherently more political
than others.
I was thinking about that
as the photos from Ferguson
rolled in. There were lots of
pictures of young Black men,
and I thought:
“Wow, those guys
riding down the street
would get a totally
different response
than I do.”
Photo Credit: Michelle Swanson
Ken Mayer
SEEING & BELIEVING
bikeleague.org/equity
#Bikes4all