San Francisco Bike Blog

Kirsten Brydum was a 25-year old, San Francisco-based activist who was murdered in New Orleans just a few days ago. When I saw news of a female activist being murdered show up on Indymedia, I thought it was just repeating headlines from another female activist who had been murdered recently in Oaxaca state, Mexico - Marcella Grace Eiler. I was wrong.

As the headlines and tributes continued to amass, I knew that the latest murder victim, Kirsten Brydum, would probably have some connection to bicycles; it seems like anyone connected to any kind of activism today has, by now, ditched their cars for a more sustainable lifestyle. Kirsten was apparently robbed and murdered while riding her bike through the 9th Ward of New Orleans. It’s particularly tough to accept when you know that she probably would have given the robber all of her possessions - she knew the value of life over material possessions.

On the heels of the murder of Jordan McKay, and the recent arrest of a suspected sex criminal who was assaulting women in Golden Gate Park, it seems like we might all need to start thinking about how to protect ourselves - including the most vulnerable among us. I don’t want to over-react to what seems like some scattered incidents, but the Golden Gate Park attacks, themselves, seem to me to warrant collective action on our part. For those of us who have lived in cities for a long time, we know what “Do you have the time?” from a stranger in an isolated area means — we’re either getting ready to run or fight, and we might not even be waiting around for the stranger to act first. But San Francisco has a lot of transplants, and a lot of folks who are just getting on bikes for the first time — we need to look out for them.

It seems clear that this much is true - whether you are a guy or a girl - riding a bicycle puts you at more risk in some situations. Walking down the street at night, at least you have your footing - but if you get knocked off a bicycle, like the NYPD officer showed us, you will be severely disadvantaged. In all likelihood, you will be too stunned and/or injured to offer any real resistance.

We need to think of some general guidelines for how to stay safe. In my few months of cycling so far, I have not seen any safety information like this. All of the safety information I’ve seen, that I recall, has been related to vehicular traffic and how not to get squashed by it. Now we need to spend some time on this other type of safety.

I’m pretty sure that the LAB Road I/II courses provide safety information of this type, but I want something right now, and I want it in bicycle shops and on websites tomorrow. Of course, any bike shop within a two-mile radius of Golden Gate Park should do more to educate their customers on recent goings-on.

One of Kirsten’s strongest legacies is the Really Really Free Market (wiki), which I had attended recently. Kirsten was already on the road, but it was clear that what she helped to organize was something great. I met great people, shared stories, gave things away, got some things, and I managed to tell everyone present about the upcoming first edition of Sunday Streets - it was that welcoming of an environment where you could just walk up to people and sit down and say ‘Hi’. Of course, many of the folks there lugged things on their bikes.

From Kirsten’s journal entries, we know she was a big biker. Here are a few excerpts:

We borrowed bikes and rode all over town, visited the urban farm, danced at a benefit for Critical Resistance, cruised a free store/ vegan potluck barbeque/folk show in the basement/party and garnered some valuable history from a housing activist whose been in the area for more than 15 years.

…

In Buffalo, I spent my time riding bikes around with my friend Hannah Potassium. She showed me the greener side of the Rustbelt city: rivers, lakes and gardens.

…

I scored a loaner-bike from a sweet bike mechanic education project and used it to ride for miles all over Chicago, including a 20-mile ride down to Hyde Park.

…

Within hours of arriving, I had a place to stay, new friends, a loaner bike and an extensive St. Louis Collective Autonomy list in hand.

…

I rode my borrowed bike around the industrial wasteland and found treasures along the Mississippi: the longest city-sponsored graffiti wall, a recycled glass recycling plant, warehouse ruins with signs of secret night lives.

Before she reached New Orleans, Kirsten stopped off in in Greensboro, North Carolina, and met Liz Seymour, who I first learned about from the Freakonomics blog. The BikeMe! Collective that Liz mentions in her latest post is the Greensboro equivalent of our Bike Kitchen. I like to think that Kirsten got to spend some time there, and hopefully even at the Plan B Community Bike Project in New Orleans. Community bike project spaces, no matter how humble their resources, are always good places to be.

The now-DC-based blog, Ryan Is Hungry (originally based in SF, I believe), has a video of Kirsten at the Really Really Free Market at Dolores Park. The video was recorded in July 2007 - just over a year ago. It’s great.

A memorial website has been set-up here.

Rest in peace, sister.

…Fighting Sexual Harassment on the Subways.

Leave comment (1)

[p.s. The Forums are open for participation.]