Representation Matters, But it is not enough
The following words and opinions are my own.
It’s been a few months since I’ve had the energy to write something like this. 2020 has been the longest decade ever and we are all exhausted. I’ve started therapy again and have been doing my absolute best to not let my anger and frustration consume me to the point of shutting down. That’s where I was this summer, I wasn’t riding, or eating, and I was barely sleeping. It was bad. Lately, I’ve been doing all three, and I am much happier and healthier.
Advocates across the cycling space have been giving y’all non stop transparency, resources, and accountability. A space that seemed so empty and lonely before, feels a bit more dense and scrappy. Folks are speaking up, people are holding companies and athletes to task, we’re asking each other to do better.
There has been visible progress even. A few more diverse hires, some initiatives that sound a little promising, and DK finally changed that racist name. Even in the racing world, things are looking a fraction better than they looked before. Legion is going UCI, and Teniel Cambell signed a World Tour contract (please note I am not accrediting white folks for this, just acknowledging the things that have made me take notice).
I know I've been yelling Representation Matters for over five years now. It’s a message I believe in and won’t ever stop believing in. It’s also just one part of fixing the issues we have here.
So, why am I bothering y’all today? What has gotten me to crawl out of my nook of therapy and self care?
Bike racing is no longer a safe space for racism.
In early October, a few weeks ago? months ago? (What is time?) Quinn Simmons got himself into trouble by using a Black hand emoji on twitter. Folks were outraged by what they referred to as “digital Blackface” and he was subsequently suspended from the team. It was during that whole thing that it became more and more public that fellow American pro cyclist Chloe Dygert was not just a Trump supporter, but also used her platform to boost tweets that were racist and transphobic.
From the situation with Quinn, we learned that the punishment for racism at Trek Segafredo is only 45 days of suspension and media training. According to an article published five days ago on Cycling news, this issue “has now been resolved and that both parties are looking ahead to next season.” The same day, another big news story broke. Chloe Dygert made a surprise transfer to Canyon SRAM.
To anyone familiar with bike racing and Chloe Dygert it is not surprising that she has landed on a World Tour team with a solid four year contract.
The issue here is not a question of Dygert’s talents, but rather, how Chloe is the direct antithesis of the values purported by the Canyon SRAM team.
She doesn’t believe in feminism and has shown she also agrees with racism and transphobia.
Why am I bringing up these two? Because this is the first time I’m seeing any consequences whatsoever for racist behavior. And if we’re being honest, these consequences are bandaids on bullet holes.
Media training is not a solution for the actual problem unless you think the problem here isn’t that they hold racist values, but that they simply didn’t “know” not to say so.
We will never fix this issue if we squander these opportunities to provide real learning opportunities to folks who have a real impact. Chloe Dygert and Quinn Simmons have a real impact. They’re young, they’re talented, and they are on the world stage.
It’s also worth mentioning that neither of them actually apologized for what they did. Nor did their teams indicate what real actions they were taking to help educate their riders (and themselves). We received the usual vague non-apologies with PR language that doesn’t really admit what they did or show remorse for their actions but makes it seem like they are going to do something different going forward.
There’s a heartbreaking quote from Kevin Reza (the only Black rider in the Tour de France this year). Five years ago after yet another incident in the peloton, his reaction was this.
“Personally I’ve moved on, it’s life,” the FDJ rider said. “It’s not only cycling, racism is everywhere. I don’t think we can change the mentalities. It is a war that we cannot win.”
I think the real sting here is that Canyon SRAM led folks to believe they were different. That they shared a refreshingly open set of values that were inclusive to all. After a bit of digging, there’s nothing on their website about where they stand, they mentioned their signing of Dygert, but have given no updates on the situation as it has unfolded. If they gave us a Black square in June, it’s been scrubbed from social media, and similar to most pro teams, their non-white, non-cis representation most likely does not exist. So who is actually guiding this forward?
Even Quinn’s apology can’t be found on his Twitter or his Instagram. It’s like it never happened. He posted recently that “eating season is over”. I’m glad he was able to rest during his suspension, I’d love to know if there was any actual action to educate him on why his actions weren’t acceptable.
This wasn’t even important enough to make it to the news section of the Trek Segafredo website, or the Trek Segafredo Instagram feed.
I acknowledge that this is standard for pro cycling teams, but that is the point. There are maybe a handful of non-white folks at the tippy top levels of the sport, and that is simply not enough.
STOP PLAYING IN OUR FACES. Stop with the buzzwords, and the feel-good images, and the fake apologies. Either do the work or just start being honest. You don’t care enough to risk anything, nor have you ever cared about folks that aren’t white, and who aren’t cis-gender. Words are not enough and we barely get those. The fact that these statements from Canyon SRAM and Chloe Dygert were released on a Saturday afternoon did not go unnoticed. They picked a time where fewer folks would see it, but they still get to say they tried.
Folks need to stop giving companies credit for being more than they are. They haven’t earned it and they don’t deserve it. They throw crumbs at us and folks get hype like they’ve ended racism. They have not. They barely said sorry.
Even the companies I work with know that I am not satisfied with where things are, I don’t hide or pretend otherwise. I acknowledge that folks are trying, but also that they need more support from their company at large so they can do more.
In this case, I truly believe that if Canyon SRAM believed in values of anti-racism and stood against transphobia, they would have never hired Chloe Dygert in the first place. They would have accepted that she didn’t fit their values. But that’s not what happened here. Chloe is a phenomenal athlete, a World Champion and Olympian with more Palmares than folks who’ve been in the game much longer than she. That’s why they hired Chloe Dygert, because they need and want to win races. The rest is extra. That’s why there’s no statement of values or mention of holding Chloe Dygert to those values, on the news section of their website. It’s not news.
For the record, I don’t hate Chloe Dygert or Quinn Simmons, I honestly don’t care about them because I know they don’t care about me. Like literally they don’t care about Black Lives, and since I am Black that includes me. As a fan of the sport, I’m highly disappointed as it was lots of fun cheering for them before, but now knowing what I know, it just feels gross.
What I do care about is how their actions are dangerous, and that the folks they are accountable to are not really educating and supporting them in the ways they’ve claimed they are.
If you have two folks here who are actually committed to doing better, then give them the tools. Share those tools cuz they’re not the only two people in bike racing that needs them. Just check their comments sections.
This PR redemption arc without details is exhausting. If y’all are actually committed to making this right, share with us what steps you’ll be taking to do so. “Training and support” ain’t it. There are plenty of folks already in the sport that aren’t causing danger, invest in them.
Bonus:
I made these as a cathartic exercise. Maybe you’ll find them helpful.
