Violent Assault leaves my Retro bike DEAD... what next ?

[yo-Nate-y]

Sounds like a terrible situation all around. I hope your insurance coughs up for a new bike.

That said, all we heard of the woman was that she was acting like a "Mental snarling B!tch" despite your acting pleasant as you rode away. Nothing about her race/appearance. If *she* was "African-looking" would you have felt that relevant to the story too?

....its the little, unassuming things that make racism so pervasive.

And yeah, I also agree you should have stopped. Especially if the person seemed miffed.

 

[GoldenEraMTB]

Sounds like a terrible situation all around. I hope your insurance coughs up for a new bike.

That said, all we heard of the woman was that she was acting like a "Mental snarling B!tch" despite your acting pleasant as you rode away. Nothing about her race/appearance. If *she* was "African-looking" would you have felt that relevant to the story too?

....its the little, unassuming things that make racism so pervasive.

And yeah, I also agree you should have stopped. Especially if the person seemed miffed.

that's what spike lee would call the result of institutionalized racism; it's subtle and sneaks into our everyday speech, practices, and beliefs. American History X is a great movie to watch how this happens, even in the 21st century.

boy burning took some time to read the original post, and commented...nothing wrong with that. When one brings up the race or ethnicity of an individual, it opens the door to opinions from a range of places, some of a certain sensitivity and others of resentment and backlash...makes for interesting sociological viewing.

I'm no bleeding heart liberal, but I'm also not a fanatical conservative to the point that I can't understand why such a remark/description as that made by the TS, would rub some the wrong way.

 

[john]

Bad luck on getting a kicking and having the bike smashed up. Regardless of what went before that cannot be justified.
As for the race aspect I'll let others debate that.

One question - how on earth did they catch you? Surely a cyclist in even moderate traffic should be able to make a good escape??

 

[GoldenEraMTB]

Bad luck on getting a kicking and having the bike smashed up. Regardless of what went before that cannot be justified.
As for the race aspect I'll let others debate that.

One question - how on earth did they catch you? Surely a cyclist in even moderate traffic should be able to make a good escape??

Yes!!!

I was thinking that as well...I've been in situations, in manhattan, where I was glad to be on a bicycle

 

[mattbrown]

I cant see anything racist in what he has said, i really cant.

"a Big Very dark african ish looking male"

I mean, as most black people ancestors have originated from the African continent, in more recent years then our European ancestors, one could safely say that they will look different, and more like there African fellows, then we would look like, he has no more said anything racist than saying, some people look like they come from the Asian continent, because they show facial traits that one could like to common Asian looks.

Im not racist, but human, no more racist than any other creature on the planet, i think we look to deep into what is racist and not, and thus just cause more tension between the races. Everyone just needs to lighten the fcuk up. We all have preferences, that cannot be bred out of us, or suppressed by laws, what can be extracted is our fears, and thats what true racists thrive on.

 

[GoldenEraMTB]

I cant see anything racist in what he has said, i really cant.

"a Big Very dark african ish looking male"

I mean, as most black people ancestors have originated from the African continent, in more recent years then our European ancestors, one could safely say that they will look different, and more like there African fellows, then we would look like, he has no more said anything racist than saying, some people look like they come from the Asian continent, because they show facial traits that one could like to common Asian looks.

Im not racist, but human, no more racist than any other creature on the planet, i think we look to deep into what is racist and not, and thus just cause more tension between the races. Everyone just needs to lighten the fcuk up. We all have preferences, that cannot be bred out of us, or suppressed by laws, what can be extracted is our fears, and thats what true racists thrive on.

I'm sure he was referring to the african diaspora with that statement

I don't get tight on these issues, but why not discuss them. I'm not playing the race card. Guess I just like discussing religion, race, and politics every now and again

 

[Easy_Rider]

Bad luck on getting a kicking and having the bike smashed up. Regardless of what went before that cannot be justified.
As for the race aspect I'll let others debate that.

One question - how on earth did they catch you? Surely a cyclist in even moderate traffic should be able to make a good escape??

Yes!!!

I was thinking that as well...I've been in situations, in manhattan, where I was glad to be on a bicycle

Sorry to hear that chap, nobody deserves to be assulated like that! The same question has been burning for me too after reading all the posts, how did you not get away?

 

[prof farnsworth]

If you have an accident no matter how trivial you stop.

If you'd of faced upto your responsabilities as a road user in the proper way none of this might of happened, if you'd of been driving a car at the time and not on a bike you'd have done the right thing i'm sure,

where i live most the roads are narrow,sometimes too narrow for two cars to pass each other. On a regular basis when driving past another car you will clip each others wing mirrors, but neither party stop because they realise that the chances are no damage has been done.

life goes on, we dont jump out of our cars and kick each other in.

 

[Neil G]

Sorry to hear about this incident .....hope you get it resolved

Comment regarding the asailaint NOT racist in the slightest...merely describing someone as they appeared

 

[tinkerer]

I live in South London and sadly the kind of incident described by the original poster is all too common - in areas like this you must ride extra cautiously. Only a couple of months ago my wife was involved in an almost carbon copy event. A car was stopped in the middle of the road as the occupants (two "Big Very dark african ish looking males" by the way) attempted to chat up/harass a female pedestrian. My wife tried to squeeze past and accidentally clipped their wing mirror (causing no damage) whereupon they started chasing her in their car. After a few hundred metres they cornered her up against a wall - bearing in mind she is 5 foot 6 tall and weighs about 8 stone, you can see what heroes these guys are. They were working themselves up for the kill (screaming shouting, gangsta hand gestures, starting to shove her, calling her a white bitch) when by chance, thank goodness, an ambulance happened to drive past. The paramedics instantly sized up what was going on, stopped and got out and started calling the police whereupon the perpetrators suddenly forgot their outrage jumped back in their car and zoomed away. All this happened just half a mile from my house and so I feel very guilty I was nearby yet didn't know about it until afterwards and so couldn't protect her (although in a way it is lucky my wife had forgotten her phone and didn't call me otherwise I'd be typing this from a concealed Blackberry in a prison cell having done my best to lighten the planet by two scumbags).