~DAY OF THE DEAD/TIME’S UP!
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
Memorial for RASHA SHAMOON
corner of DELANCEY & ALLEN, LOWER EAST SIDE, NYC. SUNDAY, NOV 2, 2008
while in the ‘hood for the ‘HOW TO PREDICT THE FUTURE’ presentation at LISA COOLEY,
we stumbled upon these remaining traces of the TIME’S UP NEW YORK – DAY OF THE DEAD – BIKE RIDE !!
BARBARA ROSS of TIME’S UP – was nice enough to fill us in on the details.
“Cyclists, zombified with white and black face paint and dressed in bright, festive colors, took to downtown
Manhattan for a 2 hr ride on Sunday, Nov 2nd. They rose the dead with loud cheers, “viva bicicletas” (live on bicycles), and “celebramos los muertos” (celebrate the dead), in addition to visiting sites of cyclists hit and killed
by cars and holding mock funerals.
Village environmental group, TIME’S UP! organized the Day of the Dead bike ride in order to promote safer streets and to remember and celebrate the cyclists BRANDIE BAILEY, RASHA SHAMOON, and BRAD WIILL and their community.
A garbage truck hit Bailey on Houston St at Ave A in 2005. Cyclists stopped first at her white ‘ghost’ bike memorial …. After a moving speech that ended with “let’s celebrate the dead and fight like hell for the living”,
cyclists cheered and danced to the Mexican music performed by former Blood, sweat and Tears trumpet player
LEW SOLOFF.
Next cyclists rode to where Shamoon was struck by a SUV at Delancey and the Bowery, this past summer, August 11, 2008. They held a ‘mock’ funeral in the divider of the intersection. Then they theatrically ‘died’ and were ‘buried’ under the wheels of a taxi parked in the Allen St. bike lane demonstrating the danger caused by motorists parked in the bike lanes.
The final celebration for the dead occurred at a community garden, where Will dedicated much of his activist effort when he wasn’t promoting bike riding. Cyclists ended their ride at St. Marks Church – where they made a public appeal to Mayor Bloomberg to join them in the quest for safer streets for all New Yorkers, who are often eager to get on their bikes, but are discouraged by unprotected, un-enforced bike lanes. They called for the city to honor its commitment to making the roads bike friendly and green.”
see: more DAY OF THE DEAD photos/FLICKR
check out: TIME’S UP!
