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Memorial Mass ride 06-27-03 – 1 of 2
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A cyclist at an impromptu shrine set up for the slain 27 year old Orion Christopher Satushek and 26 year old Angela L. Leazenby and the critically injured 23 year old Caroline Buchalter. Orion and Caroline were 2/3 of the popular Portland band, Spooky Dance Band.
The victims were hit and dragged through the streets of Portland early Wednesday morning by a speeding drunk driver. The driver had pled guilty just last week to a previous DUI charge.
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Close-up of shrine showing gear fastened to angel from a Critical Mass placard.
"CRITICAL MASS IS A SOCIAL SPACE. Critical Mass is a public act of self-acknowledgment by bicyclists who are at the cutting edge of challenging the transit priorities of this society, and by extension, most of the priorities of this culture in general. "
- Chris Carlsson, one of Critical Mass' founders
In other words, Critical Mass aims to gather a mass of cyclists for a monthly ride in order that the vehicular traffic and city officials have no choice but to notice and respect them. In the last Mass I rode in I photographed the police grabbing cyclists from their bikes, using a pain compliance hold just to write a traffic ticket, and a cyclist's bloodied face. I'd had enough. I only took part in this ride because it was a memorial ride to mourn for cyclists killed near an intersection in a Portland suburb that I often cross (there but for fortune may go you or I). I fooled myself into thinking that since the police knew that the ride was a memorial ride taking place outside our crowded downtown they would leave us alone.
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As there were a lot of police watching everybody was on their best behavior. So many riders were making each right and left turn signals in unison that I felt like I'd joined up with a cycling drill team. Here we wait for the light to turn green before riding out to join the mass.
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The biker in the red shirt told me he was arrested for shouting from the sidewalk and demanding to know why a young woman was being arrested.
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