Movin' And Shakin'

LOS ANGELES, CA – Community Leaders, educators, parents and students came together to forge an African American education agenda at Saturday’s “Education is a Civil Right” forum held in South Central Los Angeles.

Bill Cosby was the keynote speaker for the event, which drew a standing room only crowd. No punches were pulled, the dialogue was raw, direct, confrontational, troubling but, most of all, inspiring.


City of Los Angeles Councilmember Bernard Parks was in attendance and he took a moment to discuss transportation issues with SoapBoxLA. Councilmember Parks sits on the City Council Transportation Committee. He has heard SoapBoxLA testify twice on the Bikeway deficiencies found on the Santa Monica Boulevard Transit Parkway.

“Hey! Did you ride your bike?”

“As a matter of fact, I did!”

The relevance of this exchange became clear as Bill Cosby exhorted the 2000 people to stop asking for help and to start demanding it. “Jesus is not going to mow your lawn! Stop waiting for help and make it happen!”

Jimmy Lizama said it best when he proclaimed to those gathered at the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition Awards Gala;

“When I ride, I AM the bike lane.
See the sign?
It says ONE WAY. That’s right!
MY way!”

And so, to paraphrase Bill Cosby, Jesus isn’t gonna come and paint my bike lane. He’s not gonna come and put up my signs. He’s sure not gonna come and ride my bike!

With that in mind, the SoapBoxLA cycling team hopped on their trusty steeds and pedaled off to Hollywood.

BE the lane. Go YOUR way. Rinse. Repeat.