Thanks everyone for all the love and welcoming! Am still figuring out all the posting, but it’s appreciated!!!
I wanna tell everyone about an event hosted by Richmond SPOKES and the newly forming East Bay Community Bike Collaborative on Wednesday, September 29th. The idea is to get everyone together, and collaborate with each other to help grow the bike cultures of the East Bay. Hecka exciting! I will definitely be sharing with folks about how it goes and what are next steps, if folks are interested but not ready to come out to the meetings yet. If you do wanna come, get in touch and we can ride together!
You can learn more about the event by clicking on this LINK.
Here is the invitation, via Richmond SPOKES:
Come to our first meeting to find out how to get involved.
Wednesday September 29th 2010
•6:30 gather @ Future site of SPOKESHOP Richmond Bart Station •then roll down to 401 1st street #215 7-8 PM
~We will be exploring and defining membership
~addressing the mission of the collaborative
~Why collaborate
~About the community Barter system
~the direction of the new East Bay bike cultures
The meeting is accessible from the Bart Amtrak, AC transit by Bike walking or if you really have to by car.
This is not officially a pot luck but as it is an evening meeting SPOKES will accept generous sharings of libation and nourishment and set up some space to commune and consume.
Also- about the artwork. This piece is done by Paul Barron, and I originally saw it in a Richmond SPOKES post, talking about how bikes are a tool of power and resistance. I think it is always complicated to glorify guns, as they are weapons of both self defense and oppression. This print is really growing on me, I think the artists is very skilled, and we share similar politics. You can read more about his intention behind the piece here.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Jean // Sep 21, 2010 at 9:46 am
I like the artwork, but not the use of gun as a symbol of effective fighting ‘oppression’ for social change. I lean more strongly on the influential legacy of one of your great Americans, Martin Luther King Jr.
When guns are married with bikes, it’s not a great message at all.
Try to understand that some of us have family members who have come from countries that had military rule and totalitarian government.
2 Elokin - Oakland // Sep 21, 2010 at 4:48 pm
Hi Jean,
Thank you for your words. I agree with you in many ways… I felt I should keep the artwork with this post, as it was in the original Facebook post. I first saw this image surface after a Peace Ride we all did in response to police violence, and the murders of two people by police here in Oakland- Oscar Grant and Fred Collins. It is an image seen around Oakland more and more, and I want to get people’s feedback on it.
As I wrote, it feels very complicated to me to glorify guns, especially during a time when the number of folks being shot here is growing, especially by police. The overlap of bike culture and resistance to police violence is strong in Oakland, and people come from many different points of view on how to respond. I feel in oakland biking is not separate from politics, which is part of what i love about it, and its also very challenging. I appreciate your views, and welcome more feedback.
Lastly, I do have family who have lived (and escaped from) countries under military rule, and I lost a friend who was killed by military while doing journalism work… it all sits very hard with me, recognizing my family’s experiences and mine, and i value the dialogue about the different ways people perceive this piece while i sort out my own feelings on it- i thank you for your thoughts.
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