Fun for everybody! A 7-point action plan for a more diverse Pedalpalooza
Thursday, June 16th, 2016This post is by columnist Taz Loomans.
Not long ago, I thought more bike lanes would save the world. In fact, my passion for a better environment for bicyclists and pedestrians was one of the reasons I moved to Portland.
Since then I’ve become disillusioned with the bike advocacy movement, largely because of its lack of racial and ethnic diversity.
According to the recent CNN article by comedian/activist W. Kamau Bell, called Gentrifying Portland: A tale of two cities, “Portland is 76 percent white. That’s a lot, for two reasons. 1) According to the 2010 census, the United States is 72% white, so Portland is whiter than America. 2) Portland is considered a major city. And we don’t associate major cities with whiteness,” he says.