Racism and cycling became a talking point for a brief period in the cycling world following the huge waves of Black Lives Matter anti-racism protests triggered by the killing of the African American George Floyd, a black man suffocated to death by a white American policeman in May 2020. Many cycling journalists suddenly started looking for former and current black cyclists, seeking to rewrite and publish their experiences of racism. For me – a black British man, a former racing cyclist, now an academic who had been researching and writing about the black experience in cycling for many years by that point – it was peculiar to witness. Nothing can stop white writers from sharing their analysis and interpretations of the black cyclist’s experience of racism. But where the white interpreted written narrative of the black experience in cycling is given greater credibility than the penned black narrative lens of analysis, this can perpetuate racism.
The authoritative black voice in condemnation of racism against black people in cycling is important, but the issue of racism should not be the only matter of discussion on which the black cyclist is given opportunity to contribute their voice. The historical narrative of pro cycling reproduced by the media isn’t presented through the lens of the elite black cyclist. The dominant Eurocentric narrative lens frames our reality. How many biographies or autobiographies about elite and professional black riders can you think of compared to those of white cyclists?