^OMG. I totally disagree re: biking safer than driving.
a) Do you have any idea how easy it would be for two big black kids to knock you off your bike and steal it (not to mention hitting you over the head or something and grabbing the ?
b) The way people drive on the West Side is insane. If you're not careful, you'll get run over.
c) I (and perhaps others, especially black people and those who live on the west side) think it's kind of offensive that you're sort of a "ghetto tourist". I'd knock you over and take your bike, et al. JUST because of that.
*snip* location info getting a bit too specific here...
and by the way, Chaucer, do you realize that the above post makes you sound like the #1 yuppie douchebag in the entire world. Do you live in Oak Park or something? Is riding your bike around the West Side like some sort of anthropological experiment for you? Some people are poor and have to live like that and you think that warrants watching them like that ant farm you had as a kid? Shit, you probably HAVE to ride your bike because your Hummer is too wide for some of the streets.
No, actually I have a great idea. You should start "Ghetto Bike Tours" and charge people $10 bucks a piece.
"And to your left, you'll find members of the XYZ Street Gang. You can tell by this particuar color they are wearing. Note how they are saying 'blows', this is not a reference to OUR blow, but..." You get the picture.
I am so appalled and offended, and I'm sure many of the people who read your post are too. I'm absolutely gobsmacked speechless. Shocked AND stunned. Seriously, I want to ride MY bike over to your posh suburb or your 750k condo in Wicker Park and slap that smirk off right off your face.
Look, I understand where you are coming from. But I think you are over-reacting. First of all, by your argument, going anywhere in the world where you are of a different culture/ethnicity is offensive to the people there because you are interested in the differences between you and other people. So, yes, in a way it is anthropologically interesting. But that shouldn't be a problem any more than it isn't a problem to go see the way people live in say, Portugal.
If the people on the West Side seemed dirt-poor I might feel differently, but riding through many of the areas, there isn't much to distinguish them from other areas of Chicago, except that everyone is black. They aren't really ghetto areas, for those areas to be ghetto there would have to be some projects, more abandoned lots, and a general sense of disrepair that much of the West Side lacks. If it was a true ghetto, I wouldn't be biking around there. I bike around because I don't feel particularly unsafe there during the day.
All my life in my town, which you did guess the name of, people talked about the West Side as if you would be guaranteed murdered or worse if you crossed Austin Boulevard. Being able to prove this classist and pretty racist paradigm wrong is immensely satisfying. Its satisfying because it proves that being white doesn't necessarily make you a target for crime. It seems to me, white, wealthy people always assume that just because they are white, they are going to be attacked by mobs of black people if they enter black neighborhoods. Now I can thoroughly refute people's claims that the West Side is an incredibly dangerous place for a white person in particular.
Maybe I'm just an ignorant white person for wanting to break down these racial/geographic barriers that exist in this town. Obviously, me biking around the West Side isn't going to break down racial barriers in itself. But for me personally, it has been tremendously important for reducing my own personal racism that I was somehow endowed with in my multiracial, exceedingly liberal upbringing.
If through my bike rides I got a sense from the people living there that I was unwelcome, I probably would not return. But I don't get a lot of attention from the people there. I am just doing my quiet observing of the distinct culture that exists there. I really don't see what's wrong with that. I mean, according to you, no one should ever travel or witness other culture because that in itself is offensive somehow.
When I get on my bike, I shouldn't be forced to stay out of areas that are of a different race than me. That seems extremely backwards. I should be able to go where I please, especially considering the places are going are within less than three miles of my house and separate me from the downtown Chicago I love. I refuse to self-segregate myself.
