Cycling Redefined: Rwanda’s Joan of Arc

[eridani]

http://www.thenation.com/article/cycling-redefined-rwandas-joan-of-arc/

On Sunday, I asked 50 random people to give me the first thought that entered their minds when I said, “Rwanda.” All 50, without exception, answered with some variation of the word “genocide.” This speaks largely to the unfathomable horrors of what is known as “the Rwandan Civil War” between the Hutus and Tutsis, but it more strongly tells the tale of how little people in this country know about the nations on the African continent. Most are defined by tragedy, if known at all. At best, there is some knowledge of the United States’ and Europe’s complicity in these tragedies. But any sense of the positive: of the myriad strengths, contributions and accomplishments produced throughout the whole of Africa are unknown.

That’s what makes the deeply symbolic and utterly historic accomplishment of one single cyclist all the more important. Her first name, improbably and ever so cinematically, is Joan of Arc. In full, it is Jeanne D’Arc Girubuntu, and over the weekend she became the first Rwandan woman to ever race in a world competition when she competed at the 2015 Union Cycliste Internationale (International Cycling Union) Championships in Richmond, Virginia. Girubuntu was also the only woman from the entire African continent to make the cut and compete. She was one of five Rwandans (along with four men) to travel to Richmond for the race, all part of Team Africa Rising, an initiative housed in Rwanda that trains not only Rwandans, but two nations with their own recent history of conflict, Ethiopia, and Eritrea. It’s sports as a weapon of peace.

[TexasProgresive]

1. I posted a link to your OP in the Bicycling group

I noticed there were a few Black riders in the Tour de France this year. We had our own great in the U.S. Major Taylor, a consummate track cyclist.

http://www.majortaylorassociation.org/kifer.htm
Snip from "A Forgotten Hero" By Ken Kifer

Although Taylor was arguably the fastest rider in the United States from roughly 1897 to 1900, his greatest struggle was with "that monster prejudice." Time after time, he was refused entry into races, and he wasn't permitted to race in the South, which hurt his overall standings every year. He was not allowed to join the League of American Wheelman, the dominant cycling organization of his day, simply because of his color. He was turned away at hotels and restaurants, even on the evenings before major races. He was fined on numerous occasions for not racing when he had been the victim and not the cause of the problem. He faced a number of attempts to get him disqualified both because of his race and because of problems arising out of prejudices against him. He was sometimes fearful of other cyclists, and not without reason, as they sometimes threatened his life. He was personally attacked by the other racers, both before, after, and during the races, being choked insensible on one occasion and deliberately rammed at high speeds on another. During the race itself, it was more common than not for the other racers to all conspire against him, often trying to seriously hurt him, and otherwise trying to block him from winning. Even when he had won a race, the judge would often find the white man to be the victor when the race had been very close and, in the event of a tie, Taylor would lose. After the race, it was a rare occasion to have his opponents congratulate him. After Taylor's racing career was over, he found doors shut against him, for instance, being denied the opportunity to get a college degree.

[eridani]

2. Didn't know there was a cycling group. Bicycling Magazine had a really great spread on--

--Major Taylor a few years back.

[TexasProgresive]

3. It's a shame how Major Taylor was treated by the pro cycling community.

His contemporaries held his color against him because they were an elite white male club. Even though he is white Graeme Obree, the famed flying Scotsman did not belong to the club, did not have the sponsorship and builds his bikes himself. For that Obree faced similar rejection as did Taylor, but he gave us two 1 hour world records on his cobbled together bikes.

I just read where Mr Obree has come out as gay.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/graeme-obree-reveals-he-is-gay/
n an interview with the Scottish Sun newspaper published on Monday, Obree admitted that the anxiety associated with hiding the fact that he was gay had led to two separate attempts to take his own life, in 1998 and 2001.

"I was brought up by a war generation; they grew up when gay people were put in jail. Being homosexual was so unthinkable that you just wouldn't be gay. I'd no inkling about anything, I just closed down," Obree told the newspaper.

While Obree has only now made it public, he said he had come out to his family (he is now divorced from his wife) shortly after discussing the truth about his sexuality with a psychologist in 2005. He admitted that the revelation had been a particular shock for his parents, though the truth has had a positive impact upon his relationship with them.