https://thepostmillennial.com/san-francisco-bicycle-coalitions-tells-members-not-to-report-stolen-bikes-because-it-hurts-black-and-brown-people?utm_campaign=64470
San Francisco crime has skyrocketed since 2020 and bike theft has
grown into an epidemic in the Golden City. In response the San
Francisco Bike Coalition wrote on their "considerations" section of
their website that victims of bike theft should reconsider calling the
police as "Black and brown" people could be harmed from the
interaction.

One Twitter user responded, "San Francisco Bicycle Coalition @sfbike
acknowledges that 'Black and Brown people' (sic) are way
overrepresented as bike thieves, but says not to report them, because
filing theft reports leads to them being 'impacted' by police. You
can’t even make this up."

On Monday, September 12, 2022 at 5:15:01 PM UTC-5, Catrike Rider wrote:
> https://thepostmillennial.com/san-francisco-bicycle-coalitions-tells-members-not-to-report-stolen-bikes-because-it-hurts-black-and-brown-people?utm_campaign=64470
> San Francisco crime has skyrocketed since 2020 and bike theft has
> grown into an epidemic in the Golden City. In response the San
> Francisco Bike Coalition wrote on their "considerations" section of
> their website that victims of bike theft should reconsider calling the
> police as "Black and brown" people could be harmed from the
> interaction.
>
> One Twitter user responded, "San Francisco Bicycle Coalition @sfbike
> acknowledges that 'Black and Brown people' (sic) are way
> overrepresented as bike thieves, but says not to report them, because
> filing theft reports leads to them being 'impacted' by police. You
> can’t even make this up."

Likely due to the history in the USA of arresting and imprisoning or lynching the first black man found. Bike stolen, or misplaced due to you being drunk, just report it as stolen by a black man. Ten blacks rounded up and imprisoned. OK trade off. Or while rounding up the ten black men, the police decide to shoot a few of them in the back 15 times as they run away.

https://innocenceproject.org/african-american-wrongful-convictions-throughout-history/

On 9/12/2022 7:39 PM, russellseaton1@yahoo.com wrote:
> On Monday, September 12, 2022 at 5:15:01 PM UTC-5, Catrike Rider wrote:
>> https://thepostmillennial.com/san-francisco-bicycle-coalitions-tells-members-not-to-report-stolen-bikes-because-it-hurts-black-and-brown-people?utm_campaign=64470
>> San Francisco crime has skyrocketed since 2020 and bike theft has
>> grown into an epidemic in the Golden City. In response the San
>> Francisco Bike Coalition wrote on their "considerations" section of
>> their website that victims of bike theft should reconsider calling the
>> police as "Black and brown" people could be harmed from the
>> interaction.
>>
>> One Twitter user responded, "San Francisco Bicycle Coalition @sfbike
>> acknowledges that 'Black and Brown people' (sic) are way
>> overrepresented as bike thieves, but says not to report them, because
>> filing theft reports leads to them being 'impacted' by police. You
>> can’t even make this up."
>
> Likely due to the history in the USA of arresting and imprisoning or lynching the first black man found. Bike stolen, or misplaced due to you being drunk, just report it as stolen by a black man. Ten blacks rounded up and imprisoned. OK trade off. Or while rounding up the ten black men, the police decide to shoot a few of them in the back 15 times as they run away.
>
> https://innocenceproject.org/african-american-wrongful-convictions-throughout-history/
>

We can swap anecdotes all day long but the first lynchings
in USA were Italians (or likely Sicilians not that their
killers could discern the difference).

--
Andrew Muzi
<www.yellowjersey.org/>
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On Monday, September 12, 2022 at 6:18:07 PM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
> On 9/12/2022 7:39 PM, russell...@yahoo.com wrote:
> > On Monday, September 12, 2022 at 5:15:01 PM UTC-5, Catrike Rider wrote:
> >> https://thepostmillennial.com/san-francisco-bicycle-coalitions-tells-members-not-to-report-stolen-bikes-because-it-hurts-black-and-brown-people?utm_campaign=64470
> >> San Francisco crime has skyrocketed since 2020 and bike theft has
> >> grown into an epidemic in the Golden City. In response the San
> >> Francisco Bike Coalition wrote on their "considerations" section of
> >> their website that victims of bike theft should reconsider calling the
> >> police as "Black and brown" people could be harmed from the
> >> interaction.
> >>
> >> One Twitter user responded, "San Francisco Bicycle Coalition @sfbike
> >> acknowledges that 'Black and Brown people' (sic) are way
> >> overrepresented as bike thieves, but says not to report them, because
> >> filing theft reports leads to them being 'impacted' by police. You
> >> can’t even make this up."
> >
> > Likely due to the history in the USA of arresting and imprisoning or lynching the first black man found. Bike stolen, or misplaced due to you being drunk, just report it as stolen by a black man. Ten blacks rounded up and imprisoned. OK trade off. Or while rounding up the ten black men, the police decide to shoot a few of them in the back 15 times as they run away.
> >
> > https://innocenceproject.org/african-american-wrongful-convictions-throughout-history/
> >
> We can swap anecdotes all day long but the first lynchings
> in USA were Italians (or likely Sicilians not that their
> killers could discern the difference).

Why do I get the idea that Seaton lives in someplace like the middle area of Washington State. Where there ain't no crime so that he can pretend that he knows all about it?

On Tuesday, September 13, 2022 at 6:51:01 PM UTC-5, cycl...@gmail.com wrote:
> On Monday, September 12, 2022 at 6:18:07 PM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
> > On 9/12/2022 7:39 PM, russell...@yahoo.com wrote:
> > > On Monday, September 12, 2022 at 5:15:01 PM UTC-5, Catrike Rider wrote:
> > >> https://thepostmillennial.com/san-francisco-bicycle-coalitions-tells-members-not-to-report-stolen-bikes-because-it-hurts-black-and-brown-people?utm_campaign=64470
> > >> San Francisco crime has skyrocketed since 2020 and bike theft has
> > >> grown into an epidemic in the Golden City. In response the San
> > >> Francisco Bike Coalition wrote on their "considerations" section of
> > >> their website that victims of bike theft should reconsider calling the
> > >> police as "Black and brown" people could be harmed from the
> > >> interaction.
> > >>
> > >> One Twitter user responded, "San Francisco Bicycle Coalition @sfbike
> > >> acknowledges that 'Black and Brown people' (sic) are way
> > >> overrepresented as bike thieves, but says not to report them, because
> > >> filing theft reports leads to them being 'impacted' by police. You
> > >> can’t even make this up."
> > >
> > > Likely due to the history in the USA of arresting and imprisoning or lynching the first black man found. Bike stolen, or misplaced due to you being drunk, just report it as stolen by a black man. Ten blacks rounded up and imprisoned. OK trade off. Or while rounding up the ten black men, the police decide to shoot a few of them in the back 15 times as they run away.
> > >
> > > https://innocenceproject.org/african-american-wrongful-convictions-throughout-history/
> > >
> > We can swap anecdotes all day long but the first lynchings
> > in USA were Italians (or likely Sicilians not that their
> > killers could discern the difference).
> Why do I get the idea that Seaton lives in someplace like the middle area of Washington State. Where there ain't no crime so that he can pretend that he knows all about it?

Call it luck, smartness, but I have always lived in low crime areas. Unlike Oakland and Tommy's neighborhood. Although back in 1991 I was within feet or minutes of the mass shooting at the University of Iowa. I was finishing up my TA office hour in my building. And walked out the main entrance of my building. At about the same time, roughly, few minutes before or after, in the next building over, as in 30 feet over, the gunman killed the first four people. The killer then left his adjacent building and walked right in front of my building. I could have walked right by him on the sidewalk. Or we were just a few minutes apart from meeting on the sidewalk. The killer then walked over to the center of campus and murdered one more and shot and paralyzed another from the neck down. Then killed himself. That is the closest I have gotten to serious crime. Thankfully.

Another odd story. I was in Burger King in the Kansas suburbs of Kansas City. Standing near the counter getting ready to order. And a robber came in and stole the container on the counter that held loose change. It was one of those donation things where you drop the coin in the top and watch it float down through the water to the bottom. He then ran out the double doors vestibule carrying the coin jar, but dropped it and it broke the glass and spilled the water and coins. The crook then kept running and jumped into a pickup getaway vehicle awaiting outside the door. Odd. Kind of reinforces the idea that criminals are not the sharpest. The donation container held a few dollars of change at most. Reminds me of the movie Blues Brother. When Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi are in the phone booth and the former girlfriend Carrie Fisher uses a flame thrower to blow up a nearby gas tank.. And then Dan and John get blown into the air and land on the ground. And the phone booth breaks and spills coins on the ground. And Dan says, "Hey, there must be $7 wroth of change here." And they reach around trying to pick up the coins.

On 9/12/2022 5:39 PM, russellseaton1@yahoo.com wrote:
> On Monday, September 12, 2022 at 5:15:01 PM UTC-5, Catrike Rider wrote:
>> https://thepostmillennial.com/san-francisco-bicycle-coalitions-tells-members-not-to-report-stolen-bikes-because-it-hurts-black-and-brown-people?utm_campaign=64470
>> San Francisco crime has skyrocketed since 2020 and bike theft has
>> grown into an epidemic in the Golden City. In response the San
>> Francisco Bike Coalition wrote on their "considerations" section of
>> their website that victims of bike theft should reconsider calling the
>> police as "Black and brown" people could be harmed from the
>> interaction.
>>
>> One Twitter user responded, "San Francisco Bicycle Coalition @sfbike
>> acknowledges that 'Black and Brown people' (sic) are way
>> overrepresented as bike thieves, but says not to report them, because
>> filing theft reports leads to them being 'impacted' by police. You
>> can’t even make this up."
>
> Likely due to the history in the USA of arresting and imprisoning or lynching the first black man found. Bike stolen, or misplaced due to you being drunk, just report it as stolen by a black man. Ten blacks rounded up and imprisoned. OK trade off. Or while rounding up the ten black men, the police decide to shoot a few of them in the back 15 times as they run away.
>
> https://innocenceproject.org/african-american-wrongful-convictions-throughout-history/

Unfortunately, we've lost the large bicycle advocacy groups in the Bay
Area, as they've turned primarily into advocacy groups for social
justice and high-density housing developers.

Social justice is a great cause, and it is indirectly related to
improving bicycle infrastructure, but it should not be the primary
mission of these groups.

In Silicon Valley, the large bicycle advocacy group has, unfortunately,
been taken over by entities that advocate for policies that make the
area less bicycle-friendly, and that make it more difficult, and less
safe, to commute by bicycle. This is because of where they receive their
funding.

Our local transit agency has also been a victim of this. Funding for
bicycle infrastructure projects should be based on factors most likely
to increase the number of cyclists and decrease the number of vehicle
trip; spending limited funding on projects that are not going to
increase cycling rates is unwise.

Fortunately, other, smaller, bicycle advocacy groups have sprung up to
take up the slack, but those are more localized groups in each city.
Safe Routes to School, and the various "Walk-Bike" groups are still
advocating for cyclists.

It is true that bicycle theft has become a huge problem in San Francisco
and the Bay Area. Filing a police report when your bicycle is stolen or
car is broken into is a good idea, but the police are unable to do much
of anything in these cases, if anything, the police report is necessary
for insurance reasons.

What we've done, in my city, to try to address bicycle theft, is to fund
the installation of secure bicycle parking. Getting cyclists to use it,
as well as educating them on how to properly lock their bicycles, is the
big hurdle. Just as trying to educate people to never leave valuables in
their vehicle, either hidden or visible, is a challenge (and to never
leave anything visible where someone might think that there's something
valuable inside).