Race and Cycling

This post on bikeforums.net really pissed me off.

It's about an incident that occurred between a driver and some road cyclists in Australia. According to news media, the driver almost collided with the cyclists, who then called him an "effing idiot dingo"; the driver responded angrily by speeding up and changing into their lane at a unsafe distance.

Almost all the posts on the forum show unconditional support for the cyclists. That's not surprising, since cyclists are often frustrated at the dangerous things drivers do. Only one person pointed out that "dingo" is a racial slur. I wondered: if the incident had occured in the U.S., and the cyclists had shouted "effing idiot chink!" or "nigger!" or "wetback!" would the forum response be the same?

Actually, I think so.

Road cyclists tend to be white and at the upper ends of "middle class." Their self-righteousness about using the road is backed by the positive popular image of cycling as a healthy sport and an environmentally sound alternative to driving. The worst crime in the eyes of cyclists is to be a dangerous driver--in fact, it's so bad that racist speech is justified.

I'm not supporting the stupid driver, obviously. I'm trying to point out that the politics of "sharing the road" is not necessarily as egalitarian as it seems, if the people in the cycling community cannot even recognize the blatant racism in such a news story. I thought about replying, but then, what's the point? I can already imagine the dogmatic responses.