the underview.
The underview is an exploration of the shaping of our place viewed through the medium of bikes, land, and people to discover community wholeness.
The underview is a series of discussions within and about the community of Northwest Arkansas. The underview explores our collective understanding and beliefs about the place we live.
These discussions will include topics that are foundational to the identity of our region, the history of our communities, the truth of conflict with the land and its people, and the current challenges and opportunities for our community.
the underview.
the mural with Dr. Rachel Olzer (ep 2b, 39).
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In this episode, Dr. Rachel Olzer, Executive Director of All Bikes Welcome, reflects on what the “All Bikers Welcome” mural symbolizes, the weight of the public fight both personally and professionally, and what it reveals about belonging in Northwest Arkansas. This conversation is not only about a mural, but about who gets to belong in public life, and how a city chooses to shape its character in the face of conflict.
The mural itself, designed by artist Paige Dirksen and painted in collaboration with more than 80 community members and the nonprofit All Bikes Welcome, became far more than paint on a wall. Over six months, it sparked one of the most significant civic debates in Bentonville’s recent history. The City Council split 4–4 on whether to require changes, leaving the mayor to cast the deciding vote. For many, it revealed how national ideological politics and religious nationalism had been carried into local government, turning inclusion itself into a point of division.
https://www.theunderview.com/episodes/the-mural-with-rachel-olzer-all-bikes-welcome-bentonville
About the underview:
The underview is an exploration of the development of our Communal Theology of Place viewed through the medium of bikes, land, and people to discover community wholeness.
Website: theunderview.com
Follow us on Instagram: @underviewthe
Host: @mikerusch
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what a joy and what a privilege it is that Arkansas gets to be this place where you have the confluence of this massive boom in cycling and this massive boom in outdoor recreation and all of the history and challenge of being in the South. And it all gets to converge on Bentonville, and we get to be a part of that. That is history making because what is happening in cycling right now is what happened with basketball back in the day and what happened with football back in the day. And cycling is experiencing the growing pains of what it looks like to integrate a sport for the first time. And we get to be a part of that, and that's a beautiful thing, and I'm proud of that. And that's why I came to Bentonville because I wanted to be a part of that.
mike.:You are listening to the underview and exploration in the shaping of our place. My name is Mike Rusch. Today we're gonna step into a conversation about how public art and cycling shape welcome and belonging, and how they sparked one of the most pivotal civic debates in Bentonville's recent history. The All Bikers Welcome mural, designed by artist Paige Dirksen, and created in collaboration with more than 80 community members, including the nonprofit organization. All Bikes Welcome, centered around a simple message that all bikers and all bikes are welcome in the city. Located under the third street bridge in Coler Mountain Bike Preserve, the mural became far more than paint on a wall. It became a lightning rod issue for the city, a place where ideological politics were carried into municipal government, where a message of inclusion turned divisive and were debates rooted in religious values played out in the City Council chamber. What should have been a conversation about art and community instead became a referendum on who belongs, whose lives are affirmed, and whose voices are erased or silenced. And over the nearly six months that this debate unfolded, one city council member called it one of the most important decisions that the city faced in a decade. The stakes became very, very clear. This was never about color on a wall, about the very character of a community that invested so heavily in becoming a destination for cycling in the arts, could a single mural tucked under a bridge be the one thing that called all of that into question? Well, today I'm joined by Dr. Rachel Olzer, the executive director of Al Bikes welcome, the nonprofit organization that was at the center of the debate. Rachel brings her personal story and her leadership in outdoor and cycling communities to reflect on what the mural symbolizes, the weight of this debate, both personally and professionally, the implications of its decision and what it may teach us about belonging in northwest Arkansas. We're not here to rehash the past six months, but to hopefully find a new beginning point to understand what may be revealed about us and our community, and to consider what comes next for this place. We've got a whole lot to work through today. Let's get into it. I have the privilege today of sharing a table with Dr. Rachel Olzer, who's the executive director of All Bikes welcome. Rachel, welcome to the conversation. We're really glad that you'd be here this morning.
rachel olzer.:Yeah, thanks for having me.
mike.:I appreciate that we're having a conversation after the final decision was made a, around the All Bikes welcome mural. And for those that are maybe just listening in the Bentonville City Council voted four to four on the decision of whether to accept a proposal from modification to the mural with the mayor, making the tie breaking vote in this. And so we're just a few days after this. So, I think for many people, I would make the assumption, maybe correct me if I'm wrong, that this is still very raw and there's a lot of processing going on, and so we wanna leave space for that. But I know that most of the community probably came to know you or all bikes welcome when this was probably already a point of conflict. And I want to back up for a moment and maybe step into this from a human perspective and just understand, maybe give you an opportunity to share a little bit about your background and your story to give us an understanding of who you are, so Rachel, I'll just say welcome and yeah, tell us a little of your story if you don't mind.
rachel olzer.:Sure. Yeah. I always start with the big picture. I'm a black woman. I'm queer, I'm disabled, and I am a transracial adoptee. And all of those markers really help to capture, I think, some of the complexity of the ways that I show up in the world and the things that I hold very dear and precious in my life. And the ways that I show up to not only advocate for others, but to advocate for myself to, to exist in a world that I want to see. And in a world that. Is just easier and brings more joy to my life. I grew up in the American Southwest in Las Vegas, Nevada, which has shaped so much of my, where I have found solace and joy in the outdoors and being outside in just feeling the sun shining on her face. And I came into kind of, outdoor recreation as we come to understand it as an industry through my experiences growing up in the Southwest and around mountains and being inspired and in awe of the vastness of the Mojave Desert, the tall peaks. I have a lot of pride in Nevada and I always. When I talk about representation, I like to also bring not just conversations of representation of people, but of al also places and the way that, being from Las Vegas, people have an idea of what Vegas is, that is the strip. And it's always funny to a lot of us who are from Nevada that the strip is like five miles of all of Nevada. And Nevada is one of the largest states. And so it's always funny to me that like my experience of Vegas and of Nevada is so drastically different from that. And that's something that I think is, has shaped a lot of my understanding of what representation means as well. And I am also a scholar of both. Race and gender, but also I have a PhD in biology and I'm very proud of that. I'm a first generation student and I like to share that to this day, even though I have a PhD. Graduating with an undergraduate degree is still my most proud accomplishment. And I would say, all of those kind of capture maybe a sampling of who I am.
mike.:It's beautiful. Thank you. I do I think as I listen to you, I, I do like from the beginning, I want to acknowledge that, I do, I come to this as a white cis man in a cycling space. I know that a lot of your work explores that kind of intersection between race and gender and class and the outdoors. And I think my position in that means that I probably don't always see things the way that you see things. And I think maybe from the beginning, if I could ask what do you need from me during this conversation to create space where you feel like, yeah, you can share what needs to be shared given where we start in this conversation.
rachel olzer.:I think you're already doing it. I, I'm not too shy when it comes to sharing where I'm coming from. Obviously if. I'm gonna say things that might be hard to hear or say things that maybe you've never thought about. And, I think just encouraging yourself and listeners to sit with the complexity of an experience that's unlike one that maybe you've ever had to sit with. I feel uniquely positioned oftentimes because I'm a transracial adoptee to I have spent a lot of time around white people. Like I do think I have a, an understanding of some of the complexity of being, a white person or a cisgender person. So I'm not too, I'm not too shy around that. So I wouldn't worry about,
mike.:I'm not. Thank you. That's a incredible position of grace. And so I just from the beginning say what needs to be said, and please help me as I stumble through this conversation. But I'm just incredibly humbled that you would be here and that you'd be willing to share your story and the work that you're doing, because I think it matters. I think it matters a whole lot. And it's a conversation that as we've seen as it relates to one thing, the mural in Bentonville, it has created a lot of conversation that I think has revealed so many areas where we haven't had conversation and so much of where our understanding needs to be expanded. And so that, that's how I walk into this conversation in many ways. I would I would love to start. A little bit about maybe this idea of inclusion and however you want to define it, maybe in cycling and outdoor. I know that's where a lot of your work has been, but I'm curious like how do you define inclusion in general or in these spaces and what are some of the ways that maybe people misunderstand it from the very beginning?
rachel olzer.:Yeah, that's such a good question. And when I saw that come through, I was like, admittedly at first oh gosh, like I'm feeling out of my league here to talk about this because it has come up so much in this debate around the mural and this kind of weaponizing of all bikes welcome's mission in, are we inclusive? Are we not? And I think that it's really important to me to think about inclusion in the context of like. Why we use the terms we use to describe working with marginalized people. And the term inclusion comes from diversity, equity, inclusion. And I think to me, those terms exist in that order because it starts with, okay, we need to diversify whatever space it is. Whether, I come from an academic background and there was a lot, like when I was coming, when the term DEI started to get popular, I was in higher education and that there was a lot of talk around just, you wanna talk about like white, cisgender spaces. There is nothing like being in higher education to really point that out to you. And it started with this idea of, okay, like how do we diversify these spaces if we're starting with, okay, all of our spaces are white and male. How do we begin to even change that? And so you start with, okay, we need more diversity. And then you get, okay, we have diversity, but then, and we may have diversity of looks and do we have diversity of experiences and diversity of thought within that? Now we get to, okay, what does it look like for there to be equity within these spaces? Okay. Like you can have a space that's really diverse, but all of the people that hold power at the top and all of the people who do the legwork are at the bottom. That's not very equitable, especially in, places of where pay is involved. And we, that's like the most obvious. Okay, how do we create. A space where everybody has access to the same resources to, to success. And then I think, to me the next logical step from that is inclusion. And it's okay. If everybody has access to these things, does everyone feel as though those things are available to them? Do, are they included in the decision making? Okay, we've provided equitable access to a route that gives them the right to make their way to the power. But now are we including those people and those perspectives in the decision making? If we think about this from the perspective of outdoor recreation, we've seen a huge increase in the diversity. Not just of the representation of folks in outdoor spaces, but actually seeing diversity of people. And then now, we think about equity. It's okay, are there, are we providing folks the opportunity to recreate, do folks have access to equipment? Do they have access to the outdoors where they are? And then the last, natural conclusion from that is, is inclusion. So are there spaces where people feel safe and welcome and able to explore in a way that is affirming of their identity? And I think a piece of inclusion that gets really muddled for people is this idea that if you are creating affinity spaces, so spaces that are specific to a certain identity, those are inherently exclusive. And while I think. That is true from a semantic point of view. It is false from the perspective of the way that the word inclusion has evolved to mean welcoming, safe spaces. And when I think about all bikes welcome and the work we're doing to make a more inclusive cycling community, it is going to sometimes look like these spaces are only for certain folks in an effort to right a historical wrong, and an effort to create a level playing field and an effort to create a space where folks can come together, feel that safety, so that they can go out into their communities and experience that integration that we're all really at the end of the day aiming for.
mike.:Okay, now I have a hundred more questions. But I love the way, you think about that. I think that's really helpful for me to understand the context of how we come to this conversation with the same language or a similar understanding and maybe revealing even where I don't understand what people mean. And I think you're right that, and we've seen this play out in our community over the past months that we're using these terms, but yet at the same time, we don't all have the same understanding of what they mean. And so I think starting from this point is really important to understand 'cause I think that'll help us frame not only the conversation, but I bet if we went back and looked at all of the city council meetings and all of the conversations. This would probably become very apparent as different people use these terms that we're not talking about the same thing. And so thank you for that. You wrote an article on Bicycle magazine where you said that"being a black cyclist means that I am all too aware that this sport was not built with me in mind." And I would love for you you want to talk about that. I think this is a really powerful quote to put a framing perspective around. When we come to Bentonville and it's focus on cycling, this has an automatic disparity in the starting point of what that looks like. So I would love your further thoughts on that.
rachel olzer.:Sure. So you're asking like, from this quote, like what is, like, how does that look in practice?
mike.:Yeah, because I think we're building a city around cycling. And so what is the inherent like systemic problem that exists within building a cycling community that did not have someone maybe as you would describe yourself as being in mind for that? So we automatically have some correction that we really need to think about that's going to be important. So that's my question. Does that help?
rachel olzer.:Yeah. Yeah. Gosh, there's so many layers to this question. Like what immediately came to mind is just the way that I ride bikes with white people and the way that I ride bikes with folks of color is so drastically different and is almost often at odds. So I think about like when I'm riding with. White folks, it's very much like we're in the zone and it's we're in the wilderness and we enjoy the peace and quiet, and we don't, we're not really there's no riffraff, if you will. And it's like when I'm riding with folks of color, it's like there's often music playing and it's hip hop and we're laughing and we're dancing and we're, twerking on the, on, on the trail. And it's just it, there is a lot of like jovial spiritedness, spiritedness to the experience that I think oftentimes when we encounter white folks on the trail is really like jarring for both people, for both groups. And sometimes white people are looking down on the ways that black people and folks of color want to experience the outdoors. Because we're coming at it from potentially trying to meet different needs. And I think that's okay, but I also think that it's really disrespectful to either group to assume that one's, one group's needs are more important or have more of a right to be met. If you're coming at it from nature is my solace and I need silence, and that's how I restore, versus I actually just wanna be with my people and I want it to feel like a party. And that's what I need. Neither of those needs is grander. It's just that those are different needs. And so I think about it from just just that like alone is so different, but then, you get to like deeper systemic issues of if we think about Bentonville and the way that accessing trails is really dependent on what part of the town you live in and. I lived in a part of Bentonville that was like really hard to get to trails. There are no trails near me. And it is like crossing your fingers and toes and hoping you get there in one piece, riding from your house, you know, versus, you know, there's other parts of town where you can leave out your back door and you're right on a trail and you can map that to the socioeconomic landscape of Bentonville quite easily. And that can be, that is not unique to Bentonville. That is pretty much on the whole across the US. And so I think there's both that scaled up version of yeah, I mean does your neighborhood have a basketball court or does your neighborhood have a bike trail? Depending on which of those you have access to is gonna change the course of your life potentially. And that maps to race more often than not. I think you can see those both in the like big picture and in those like interpersonal interactions.
mike.:Rachel I think in that just what you shared, it, it reveals a whole lot of conversations that we're not having at least not publicly in places like northwest Arkansas that is building a place and a destination and an experience around trails and cycling, which is wonderful.
rachel olzer.:Mm-hmm.
mike.:Within That, we are carrying things into it. It feels to me, some things that we don't fully understand and maybe why these kinds of conversations become so necessary and maybe a revelation about why they become points of conflict, because that deep understanding, both historically and in current day, yeah. We're just not all starting at the same point from this conversation. So I feel like, again, we could talk about what you just mentioned a whole lot, and I would hope there are other people that are working on this conversation. I know you and all bikes welcome are working on this conversation, but it, I think it's, yeah, it's necessary and needed in that.
rachel olzer.:And that also makes me think of like the term racism itself and the way that's evolved to, like I think not that long ago, people would often use that term to mean like their interpersonal interactions. And I think still do to some extent oh, racism means like that white people are mean to black people, and now we've evolved to understand like racism is systemic and it occurs like in the way that we build our world. And I think that highlights the way that language evolves with our understanding of these systemic, like bigger issues. Particularly as it applies to the ways that marginalized people move through the world. So I just wanted to put that out there.
mike.:So maybe before we get there, I you have a lot of experience in these spaces, not just whether it be academically or professionally but in just life experience. I know before you came to Northwest Arkansas, you were living in Minneapolis and you went through that in the wake of George Floyd's murder. And so I think this is something that I would assume you carry with you into a lot of these conversations having lived within that space as these events took place. And so I think, I guess my question, it doesn't feel like, this is not your first time to have to face the reaction of a city to calls of inclusivity or representation. And I would love. If you're willing to share, like what do you carry from that time and that experience that really maybe helps inform how you think about approaching and we'll get to the city council conversation, but I think you're starting in a much different place than most people in northwest Arkansas.
rachel olzer.:Yeah. Yeah. I mean I had the very lucky privilege of having the confluence of doing a PhD, which is one of the hardest things you can do living through, COVID while I was trying to finish a PhD and, the uprising in 2020 in the wake of George Floyd's murder. And man, that was one of the hardest things, like just the confluence of all of those, I think to paint kind of a bigger picture around that. So I lived in Minnesota, in Minneapolis from 2015 to 2021 through 2021. And so obviously within there was the uprising in 2020. But even before that, my first year living in Minneapolis, within the first four months, there was the unjust murder of a a young black man on the north side of Minneapolis. And there were protests outside of the precinct on the north side. Four gunmen showed up one night to those protests and masks and shot into the crowd and people were injured and harmed. The year after that, in 2016 Philando Castile was murdered. Not one mile bird's eye view from my office at the University of Minnesota. And I was part of a task force to help the city try to figure out how to move through that. And that was an interesting experience. And it really, it was like every summer there was some big unjust experience between a black person and the police de like a police department in the Twin Cities. And at the same time I was coming of age, I was, experiencing being a young adult and I was leaning into cycling in a big way. I was using it as a mode of transportation. I was using it as an opportunity to get to know the city. And one thing I love about the Midwest and especially the upper Midwest, is that they really embrace cycling in a big way. Minneapolis is continually one of the most bike friendly cities in the us. And it's beautiful. And in the summer things come alive and the city just completely transforms and it's such a joyous experience. But I remember after those first two years, every summer in that early part of the summer, around May and June, there was this anxiety that would build in me because I knew something was coming. And that was really my first experience with the ways in which this is a norm for black people who live in urban environments. And. I grew up in a city, but it was much, much different. And I think living in Minnesota where there is this really interesting history of having been a part of the civil war and having been a part of that north versus south, I had never, that's not really a part of growing up in the American Southwest, like the American Southwest is very new. And while we have our own problems with racism and marginalization, it's very different. And so coming into Minnesota, I was experiencing for the first time this big divide. And at the same time, Minnesota is a state that prides itself on being the only state that's never gone red in a presidential election. People pride themselves on being liberal. And I had to like contend with the fact that I was so excited to come into that and then realizing oh, liberal racism sucks just as much. Like I was not expecting that. And it was almost worse because people, I was experiencing for the first time this really like in my face racism. And it was made worse by the fact that because people identified so heavily with being on the right side of history through the Civil War, that they were less willing to see that they had a problem. And so anyway, that's all to just set a scene for the fact that what came in 2020, I think for a lot of us who had been living in that city was not a surprise at all. And also it's almost surprising that it's, it was that specific interaction that triggered this huge uprising because it had been almost so commonplace for us that something like that was happening every summer and. Because I think COVID was setting the stage for so much, I think unrest just within our homes and within ourselves. People were tuned in and they were looking for somewhere to channel that. And George Floyd's murder really gave them this outlet. Like people were already pissed about so much that was going on in our country and in our world. And I think in a similar way, the mural gave folks that in Bentonville, there's so much un like unrest happening there of like folks feeling the frustration of the growing pains of the area. And the mural kind of gave them an outlet for that frustration.
mike.:Gosh, I. Yeah, I, I would not have thought about it that way until you maybe connected some of those dots or bring that into context. And I, yeah, I'm gonna have to think about that one for a little while and not, not think about it like, is it true? But I think the implications of that are really deep and really wide around the cultural moment that we are in and change in belonging and maybe how frustration or fear really works itself out in a city. And for you to maybe connect those two things, really I think it puts the mural conversation in a not, it's not the same as what happened in Minneapolis. I, I wanna be real clear, but I think maybe these are the early fires, for lack of better words that start to burn. That yeah, can, that maybe we can keep in mind about why this does matter and why this became such a conversation point. So I don't know if that's fair or not, but that's my rambling at the moment as you say that.
rachel olzer.:Yeah, and I think to your question, 'cause I don't know that I actually answered it, like having lived through that did give me a lot of confidence that like not to diminish the accomplishment that was facing the city council in Bentonville, but also it's like I can face the city council in Bentonville. Like it, I can face the city council in a relatively like medium sized town in the south. If I can mobilize. The largest racial uprising and be in the city where it is ground zero. I think I'll be okay. Because one thing that is so underappreciated by folks who were not living there at the time is that Minneapolis became a war zone. Truly it was extremely difficult to live through. There was a period of time where everything was boarded up. I stood in line to get my groceries at a mutual aid center. Tanks like the National Guard poured out of the capitol every day, tanks lined the cities, and that was the case, not just for a couple months in 2020. That was the case basically, until I left, until after the trial. And part of the reason I had to leave is because I ha I couldn't leave my house anymore. Like I was so terrified to leave. Like I just. It was like affecting me deeply. And I still feel guilty for leaving. I say all that because it's yeah, I, if I can survive that, as much as it's this mural stuff has been very painful, I know I'll be okay. I'll get through it.
mike.:Well, And I guess Rachel, my, if, that ultimately is part of the reason that you came to Bentonville. Yeah. I'm curious what your expectations or your experience was as you stepped into this place. As maybe a new place to you or what your hopes were when you came here?
rachel olzer.:Yeah, I mean I, I've been reflecting on that a lot lately as I move through this. Ooh, like I didn't necessarily want things to go this way, but I'm also coming to this understanding of I don't know if I have much of a choice of where the work goes and maybe there's just like a level of acceptance I need to have in that because ultimately I came to Arkansas because I wanted to make good trouble and I wanted to do good work. And that is happening and I don't think you get to choose what catapults your work into the spotlight. And I think that's something I'm really wrestling with, we've done such good work and we've gotten great, really a truly great recognition for the good things we've done, outside of this mural stuff. And I was always so frustrated by the lack of visibility for our work locally. Like we had gotten so much national attention and I can go, I go to these other places and people know about the work we're doing, but like locally, it never felt like I was able to have people bought into the work in a way that felt really validating of the work itself until this mural. And so in some ways it's I don't know, I'm trying to find the humor in that. Like, Okay, well at least people know who we are now. I, it, if I had had a choice, I don't think it was the one I would've made. Certainly. And especially because it. It was nice all along to be able to work in, in silence and in the shadows. And now that's not so much a possibility. But I do think, and I do really believe that this work is most needed in the south in places like Arkansas and what a joy and what a privilege it is that I get that Arkansas gets to be this place where you have the confluence of this massive boom in cycling that happened as a result of COVID and this massive boom in outdoor recreation and all of the history and challenge of being in the South. And it all gets to converge on Bentonville and we get to be a part of that. That is history making because what is happening in cycling right now? Is what happened with basketball back in the day and what happened with football back in the day. And like cycling is experiencing the growing pains of what it looks like to integrate a sport for the first time. And we get to be a part of that. And that's a beautiful thing, and I'm proud of that. And that's why I came to Bentonville because I wanted to be a part of that.
mike.:Gosh i've never heard anybody equate this to other movements in other sports, but I guess again, as you say this, it's so accurate and powerful. It's crazy. As I hear you talk about this, it becomes so strikingly clear what this means and why this is such important work. And you said something that I read you, you wrote an article that we'll put into the show notes of this, that you're quoted as saying"one of the most overlooked aspects of justice is movement." And you say, "I argue that movement is one of the most human experiences that we can have to move, is to be human, to be alive, to experience the fullness of life." And you go on with for a while talking about this, but I maybe give us a context about why this is so important and how is this idea of movement and justice connected Because it, it sounds really powerful.
rachel olzer.:Yeah. I think, yeah, where do I even begin? I think again, like so many things, movement is critical when we like zoom out and look at the way that people evolve and change and understand like how we got to where we are now, but then also in our individual lives, right? So much of this increase in understanding of mental health is connected to moving and moving our bodies and being in our bodies. And trauma, so much of trauma, personal trauma is the severing of our spirit and our mind and our body, and it keeps us like disconnected from our bodies. And I think in the same way big, if we look at and zoom out and think about like big traumas or the ways that, people and movements come about, the ability for people to move is a big part of it. So when I talk about movement, I think of course this aspect of just like being able to ride my bike and the fact that's a big deal. And being able to move my body is a big deal for my own processing of trauma and for my own joy and for my own access to just like all of the full range of human emotions and experiences. But then when I zoom out and even think about the ways that movement is critical for families fleeing, systems that are unsafe for them, or environments that are unsafe, or when I think about, the ways that enslaved people in the south were physically being moved out of the south in order to escape. Or when I think about the fact that we are. Constantly trying to across the world, not just the us, trying to keep people from moving out of the situations they're in, into something better. Like movement is such a critical piece of how humans survive and that is why we are, the powers that be are always trying to restrict that. And that can look as big as building a wall on the border of, between the US and Mexico or as local as refusing to build a bike lane to make things safer for people to leave their house. Like I genuinely believe those things are deeply connected and that is why I think I am so impassioned by this work that we. Give marginalized adults an opportunity to connect to something that they may never have an opportunity to connect with through cycling. And I believe that this work exists to give people an outlet for dealing with the basic everyday stresses of life, but also in a bigger sense to help them imagine something that they could do that's bigger than themselves. I didn't grow up thinking I was going to do this work. And so bikes have really taken me to a big to a world so much bigger than myself. And when I was going through grad school, cycling really helped me manage my mental health. But it specifically in 2020 when I was living, at the epicenter of this movement for Black Lives. Being able to go out on a bike trail was what helped remind me that there was still beauty in the world. And I'm, and I mean that so deeply. Like when you are living in this container of violence that was Minneapolis in 2020, it is so easy to become hopeless. And it was so easy to become hopeless and to fear moving. And like it was going out on bike trails, it was traveling to see, little towns in Minnesota that had bike trails. That helped remind me like there is beauty still worth fighting for. And it helped restore me in that way.
mike.:Rachel, that's, yeah, it's beautifully said and yeah, beautifully embodied, I think in the work who you are and the work that you're doing. And I think it gives a context of there's a bigger conversation at play here. And while the mural is important what the mural symbolizes is something of great value and something that we don't think about in those terms very often. I think one thing that may be helpful in this conversation is that because so many people came to know all bikes welcome at when it was already in a place of conflict it's, to me it always seemed funny. Not like, ha ha, but like funny, like weird that all Bikes welcome was put in this bucket for lack of better words of being exclusionary. But, the origin story of All Bikes. Welcome comes from a place of necessity. And I'll, that's my term, but I would love for you to maybe give us a little understanding of why is all bikes welcome, needed and necessary in this community?
rachel olzer.:Yeah. I, I mean, We started as just a, we really, the nuts and bolts we started as a grant to help connect marginalized people to soft surface trails and, and really just to connect people to soft surface trails as Bentonville was becoming known for its recreation. I, yeah, I first came to Bentonville in 2015. That at that point. Like there was like one trail at Kohler there wasn't a lot, but there was enough that I was like, Ooh, this place is gonna be awesome. This is really something. And since 2015 I drove down in from Minneapolis I would come down every winter for a week to escape the winter in Minnesota and get to be on sick trails. And it was fun to get to see the ways that Bentonville was evolving as a place that like more and more people were coming to and the trails were being built out. And it was just awesome to get to see the ways that they were blazing a new path when it comes to what does it look like to do this work? And in terms of creating a town that centers around cycling. And at the same time I was living in Minneapolis, it's a highly segregated city. I was in a higher education. I did not have a lot of folks of color in my life. And so I started, looking for people online to connect with, to ride bikes with who were folks of color, who were, queer, who were like more women to ride with. And I just started like organizing trips to do that. And we ended up in Bentonville in 2019 to do that. And it was really fun. And so when I came into this work with All Bikes welcome, like my focus was on knowing the power that Affinity spaces have to energize people to go off into their communities and be able to spread the joy to others. And so I came into it with this we are creating programming for all and. We absolutely have to build it with marginalized people in mind and knowing that marginalized people like need spaces that are just for them. And I think the thing that people don't understand about, like the need for Affinity Spaces is that the goal isn't to stay in them indefinitely. The goal is to be energized by them so that you can go out and be integrated and be among everyone. And so we build our calendar out to be able to have programming that's open to everybody and programming that is specifically built for certain marginalized groups in mind. And there, and that is how you do this work. Because if you don't specify. The unfortunate result of that is that you will get the same exact people every time. Like I guarantee it and I see it all the time. And if you do specify, it will, like they, if you build it, people will come. And so we have rides that are open to everyone. We have events that everybody is welcome at, nobody is turned away. And then we have events that are specifically a space built for people who need that space more than others. And if some people view that as exclusionary, there's nothing I can do about that. I know it works because I see it.
mike.:And I would maybe just the elephant in the room sometimes is that there are other. Affinity groups that exist within cycling around our town, right? This is not an uncommon practice and it's necessary and needed to grow people into all of the things that are so beautiful about what the cycling world has to offer in many ways. It does feel, and I'm, I'm biased here, of course, but that there was a spotlight placed on all bikes welcome as being an exclusionary. Yet the things that you're describing are not uncommon in parts of the cycling world where there may be our women only types of spaces but it's not uncommon from our city or our churches or our other spaces like
rachel olzer.:That
mike.:those affinity groups have a reason and are valid and we don't seem to be threatened by them in other places. But for some reason, this became a conversation for those that maybe were not as in favor of the mural as we would've hoped.
rachel olzer.:And I also am not naive enough to think that the re that even if we allowed cisgender men, the reason they had an issue with it is because we specifically allow transgender people. And that is I'm not playing this game that like their issue had something to do with them not being, this is specifically because people that they don't wanna see exist in public, our existing in their public spaces. Period.
mike.:Well, Let's go there. maybe give us a framework from your perspective when you realize that this mural was going to become a central point. Where did you start to see that? What was like, walk us through your Yeah. As you watched this kind of become what it did.
rachel olzer.:And Paige can back this up. I said to Paige when it was, when we were putting it up, don't be surprised if people have an issue with this. And not because I thought we were doing anything wrong, but because I know how this goes, like I, I have been a part of enough controversy and a part of enough movements to know that if there is an issue, people will find it. And it was actually funny, I think at the time Paige was like, no, I don't, you know, like, what could they possibly have an issue with? And we've even talked about this since then of like, we kinda, we did talk about this, but the second that Paige, so Paige came to me at the beginning of this year. I wanna say it was like maybe February or March about, the email from the mayor and I was like, immediately, this is about, this is not about the contract, this is not, this is about the fact that they don't like people like us and they don't want people like us to exist. That is not, they can frame it however they wanna frame it. That has never been not clear to me. And I think it's tricky because I, my goal from the outset from the first City council meeting was to force their hand a bit and make them say it out loud. Don't make us like, don't make this issue that these small vocal minority of folks are having. Be something that we have to cater to make them say what their issue is. And ultimately, I guess in that sense, I think we achieved that goal. So yeah, it, it was clear to me from the beginning because I, and I also am not naive enough to think that just because we have support for our work, that there aren't plenty of people who don't support it, especially in Arkansas. And that's why we exist in Arkansas because the majority of queer and trans people are in the south. And that is the same place where they are constantly under attack back.
mike.:Rachel, I'm curious, as you saw this kind of unfold, I don't wanna put words in your mouth, but to me it feels like and what I, maybe what I saw was a pretty big power dynamic that was at play here. I'm curious what you saw from your perspective about yeah, that power dynamic and what it was and how it worked itself out, and maybe how it changed over the process.
rachel olzer.:Yeah, it was very apparent from the beginning, I think, especially as they would, as the, vocal minority would lean on city council to use formal processes as a smoke screen for like their bigger issue. Because ultimately at the end of the day I recognize that their issue isn't with the mural at all. Their issue is with all bikes welcome. I'm very aware of that. They don't want us to exist. The mural was just an opportunity for them to like, to get that, to take a dig maybe, or to put that in that it was an easiest thing for them to access. But even the ways that there was so much lack of leadership from the city to even use their processes to try and force our hand or to like. As a willing participant in that smokescreen was really interesting. I also think, and Paige and I have talked about this, that it is not lost on us. That if she was a woman of color, this would've gone totally differently if she was queer, if she was trans, like that we are, it is both a sad reality and the reality that led to this victory that because she is a white woman, it is, this outcome is more likely possible because of that. And I think I personally saw that in the ways that the council interacted with me. Like that was deeply hurtful. I think that like the ways the council, the ways the other supporters of this mural, the ways that even the detractors the folks on the other side. It was deeply painful to know that, especially at the last meeting, the way the council looked, Paige in the eyes and, praised her and appreciated her. And this didn't just happen at the last meeting. This happened at every other meeting before that. And then would look at me and all bikes welcome and blame us for, for the Arkansas people article that was written. Like we had nothing to, you know, or for the hatred they were getting that had nothing to do with us. But they, the continued narrative was that it was all bikes welcome, that we were pushing something. And from my perspective, we only ever stood in support of Paige and behind Paige and the way that the council continued to not only allow other people to lie, but to perpetuate their own lies about the organization that were deeply damaging. That to me is not only unprofessional, but it's uncivil and cruel and targeted and all the things that they claimed we were doing to them were being done to us. And I, they are not aware that it's a racial issue, but it's very clear to everybody that can see that for what it is.
mike.:Yeah, I think Rachel, I would, I would affirm your comments. uh, As I walk through it, you know, watching what's happened, it's hard to not draw those same conclusions, right? What's at the center of this is not maybe that mural and colors on a wall, that it really is something broader. And I've had a lot of people ask, what are we, what is going on here? What is happening? Why is this such a big deal? And I think I'm gonna point them back to your comments here as a understanding of what, what was being carried into this into this conversation. I would ask you this. If you want to, and I don't wanna put you on the spot, but, you mentioned just that, that relationship between you and Paige, how did the two of you walk through that together? If that's something that you would wanna speak to.
rachel olzer.:Yeah, I adore Paige and she is a good friend and I'm so lucky that is the foundation of our relationship going into this. The way that we've walked through this mural situation together has evolved a lot from the beginning. And, I think initially I would have I think I saw myself in more of like coaching her through this of I think because I was very aware from the first. There being a first issue that the, that this was targeted and that there, this was not by accident. Like, I think one, when you're a marginalized person, there is like a sixth sense, from having dealt with these types of issues over and over. You just know. And then I also think being a leader in this space, like I'm very aware of how, what I would call the various isms show up. And so I think, initially when she came to me it was like, okay, there, it's just like there are there is this kind of contract issue and should we just do it? And quietly, and I was like, and I told her, I think even at that point I said they got lucky that it was a contract thing, that they that the design deviated from the original. Because I think even if it hadn't, they would find something else. And lo and behold, they kept finding, kept digging and digging. And so I think there was a lot initially of me trying to coach her through Hey, I don't, I really don't actually think that's the issue and this is what I think the issue is. This is what I think we should do. And there was a lot of, she had a lot of trust in me, which I'm grateful for. I think it was very helpful. You know, We brought other people on and, as more people came on to validate kind of my place or where I was coming from, I think it really helped her build some trust in like, yeah, this is a fight worth fighting. And then it's, you know, it's been a real joy to see her just not need me anymore and like figure out for herself, like what she wants to do. And. There's al there's been a lot of checking in of this is what I'm thinking. What do you think? And, and, And I'll admit like it's, there have been tears together and there's been a lot of like, when she came to me with that she was gonna propose this change to the city. I was like, it was really hard for me to hear I was, and not because I think the mural serves as a billboard, but because I was like, I'm not sure if I think this changes anything for them. And I was also always very aware of the potential that they would try to come between us as a tactic and. Again, luckily Paige and I think, have a good enough friendship that was never gonna be successful. But I think that the outcome from Tuesday is the closest they could get. Let's villainize the organization, accept this proposal, praise the artist, and move on. And I think since then, as I've worked through a lot of my feelings about the outcome, it has been hard at times to be like, man I don't believe that Paige had anything but our best interest in mind. But it really hurts that she comes out on top and the organization basically like nothing good, really came for us as a result of all this. And we stood so firmly with her. And that's not something that she has control over, but I think is a truth that everyone who is involved in the organizing has to sit with and I think owes it to themselves to sit with the full complexity of what this work looks like in action.
mike.:I think that dynamic that you described of, a tactic of trying to get between you and Paige would make, makes a lot of sense, i'm curious after the decision was made. And to your point that the organization really had nothing good come of it. How do you view that? Is that I hear you saying that's what the organizers need to think about that, and I think that's absolutely valid. Is that part of the decision that was, that was ultimately arrived at, is this because it was maybe reflective of the system and its biases in a way that maybe we're not aware until you bring this to light? Is this part of the systemic problem even in the solution itself?
rachel olzer.:I think, yes. I think that this, one, we love a Messiah story and that, that is so human nature, every movement, right? We love somebody to be the face and for better or worse, Paige is a great face of this. She is a mom, she is a wife, she's a white woman. She cares deeply about the work she does. She does good work in the community. She has a clean record. She is a good face for this. And I am not really, and I accept that like I fight hard for the people I love. I have a deep stake in this and sometimes that's not something we care about. I think one thing I've really learned a lot through this work is that we love a white person who does equity work. We love a white person who does equity work. I don't know what that is. I don't know if it's like we appreciate more that they don't have a stake in it. I don't know. But that is very, that has become very clear to me. I have a deep stake in this. I'm black, I'm queer, I'm disabled. My partner is trans. This work is. Deeply me. But I think also I think as I reflect through this, I'm not a crisis PR person. I've had to show up and become one. I may be, if I had known this was the outcome, if I had known the organization would be painted in the light, it was maybe I would've taken a different approach. I think, my approach from the beginning was like, we're gonna focus on the mural. We're not gonna, we're gonna force them to say the quiet parts out loud, but at the end of the day, this is Paige's mural. This is her art. I think maybe I would have shifted the approach to what is the issue they have with the organization. I don't, and maybe found a way to like address that, but I don't know, when you're playing, you're entering an arena, right? And you have to be so strategic about how you approach, especially in the arena of politics. I don't know that there was a lot of room for nuanced conversation around well, is your issue with trans people? Because it was very clear, it was on multiple occasions I was very clear to the people tuning in. But I don't know if there was room in the political arena to have a conversation about that would help humanize the organization in a way that could shift the focus in a productive direction. And so I. I think you're, I guess to your question, yes, I think that it is an outcome of the way that we build these systems to work. Every person on that council, but one was white and none of them are trans and none of and as far as we know, and the person they were gonna see themselves in was Paige. And it wasn't gonna be me, and it wasn't gonna be the people that my organization serves. And for better or worse, a lot of the folks who supported the murals message and wanted the mural to stay related to Paige. And in that way that's successful. We did the right thing there. I would just hope that we aren't just for a message of inclusion, but that we are supporting the people who put that message into action, and that's always been my goal with the mural and with this organizing effort.
mike.:Rachel, thank you. I thank you for going there. I know this is, we're still processing this, but I think this is a significant part of the conversation to really maybe pull these things apart to understand that there are systemic things involved that does not excuse organizers or people who want to be allies in this work. But it's a part of it in the moment that I think we move fast not to make excuses. I'm not saying there's no excuse, but you're moving so fast to try to take all these things into consideration and not knowing the outcome is difficult to walk through. All bikes welcome made a public statement. You said"it's not enough to endorse a message of inclusion in Bentonville. We need our community to actively support inclusive practices and the people working to make them a reality." I'm curious within that, what is, I don't know if allyship is the right word to use here? Maybe it's just being a human being? But what does it look like to move beyond statements but to action. What would you ask of our community?
rachel olzer.:Gosh, I have so many like thoughts and feelings that I'm still through. It's it's as simple as I've seen you at this city council meeting before. I'm gonna walk up to you and say hi and introduce myself. I've talked about this with friends since the last meeting of like, why are white men so afraid to be uncomfortable for just like even a second, right? It's I know you know who I am. Why won't you say hi to me? And what is it? And you know, my friend, I had a friend who was like, there is a factor of intimidation and I get that. But even that is a form of dehumanizing 'cause it's at the end of the day, not only am I just a fellow person, we're all here for the same thing. It's as simple as that, right? It's as simple as like sending a message and being like, Hey, like I'm following your organization. I'm so excited to learn more or, I think would've, what really would have meant a lot to me is for some of those folks to have come up to me and said, I saw what happened in there and I just want you to know, I didn't think it was okay. And I don't wanna cry or get emotional, but it's with my background, like that was something that was I was so starved of growing up. And it just, sometimes the simplest things make the biggest difference. And sometimes all you want is for somebody to just validate your reality and in the celebration to be able to just look over and say like, I still really believe in the work that you're doing. And that's it. And yeah, we got to keep this mural, but I know that it came at a cost and just to see it and feel like you're not just imagining and and obviously there's a lot of deeper work that needs to happen and we have to of course vote in people that make policies that matter and we have to speak up when trans people aren't allowed to use the bathroom. And we have to do all these things and we have to support the people on the front lines.'cause I will tell you that it is really traumatizing work. Like aside from just like the ways that my organization was thrown under the bus, like to have to sit through multiple meetings of people like questioning and debating your right to exist, the people you love's right to exist is I can't even make to explain what that is. It is horrible. And, for somebody to just come up and say can I give you a hug? I think you like, you really matter. And I really am glad that you're here. That's meaningful.
mike.:When we, after the decision was made there was a group outside. I, I walked outside and, I think, the natural reaction or the expectation is you would want you would expect people would be celebrating, right? But when I walked outside, it was very palatable that I know. I didn't know what to do with all of that. The weight, in some ways had not been lifted. And I walked outside and it was very somber tone. People were not out there celebrating and congratulating people. And you said to me just that, yeah, this is the result. The result is good, but the harm done in the process is very heavy. And I'm curious if you would want to expand on that or what did you feel in those moments after the decision was made and, yeah.
rachel olzer.:Yeah. I was. Like so upset. And it was really interesting'cause right when, we wrapped and people were leaving, Paige turned to me and said, I know this is bad for the organization and we will find a way through. And that was, it was very helpful to hear, but it also was so heavy and I think, a lot of it was just like we were exhausted. We just sat through four hours of like discussion. I think it was also like really hard to know that it was not a landslide victory. Like the fact that after everything, it was still four to four was like, are you kidding me? And I think, the entire time throughout this process. In my opinion, one side was always extremely prepared, willing to compromise, talk through, came ready to defend their point. And the other side just never seemed as prepared. And so I think there was also this thing for me where I was like, we're holding these two sides as if they're equal and they're not. So that was also really hard to sit with because knowing that yeah, you got some people to show up to this one meeting, but on the whole you haven't been around. Your arguments have been flimsy at best. And in some ways I'm insulted that we have to do this all again and be held up as though these are two sides, two equal sides of a coin. I think that's weird. And I think there was a lot of just violence done and harm done in the process. It's easy to say oh, like a council member getting called out of their name and whatever is violent. And that may be true, and it's also violent to allow people to stand up there and say the horrible things that are being said about members of their community. And so I think there was a lot of that too. And and I think for what it's worth, these types of efforts, we have to think of ourselves as athletes in these arenas as well. It's not just when we get on a bike, but advocacy requires a certain level of endurance too, and I don't think that everybody trains for that. Because we want comfort and safety and in the same ways that we have to be willing to take risks when we're on a mountain bike or, train for a long gravel ride. We have to be willing to take risks when it comes to advocacy and get uncomfortable and buckle in for the long haul. And I will say I am really proud of the fact that we did that. This has been the majority of the year. We have spent months on this, and that is really impressive. And it's exhausting. And so I think there was a lot of that too. But I don't know. Personal, for me personally, it was just really heavy to be like, Ooh, like I don't feel good about how that all ended or how that all went down. And I've had to sit with the last couple days of just reevaluating like the calls I made throughout and just questioning was that the right call? And sometimes what I think is best personally maybe isn't what's best for the organization and did I do the organization right? And just all these things I have to sit with of be, learn and be better prepared for a future fight.
mike.:And I'm sure that this reflection and learning will continue of
rachel olzer.:Yeah.
mike.:Time to come and so I do. I don't know if there's good in this, but maybe it's given us the opportunity to have these conversations in a way that we have not been able to before. And to try to be honest with ourselves as a community about the mirror that we should hold up as we evaluate who we are and who we want to become.
rachel olzer.:Yeah, and really my goal is I think this was a masterclass and what racism looks like in practice and what, in the ways that this stuff shows up to me, this is exactly what it looks like because it's never gonna be as in your face as you want it to be. Like we, we got lucky that people were willing to say out loud the things they were,'cause it rarely happens. If we had been met with people who were more politically savvy, this would've been even harder to see through. And in that way, I think hopefully people really take away like a, just so many lessons of this is what this looks like. Like burying people under red tape, burying them, burying their ideology and hatred and masking it in these various ways. This is what it looks like. Yeah.
mike.:Yeah. And like at this point, if you want another half an hour conversation, we can talk about religious context that were brought to all of us.
rachel olzer.:Yeah.
mike.:I'll go there. Although we should, 'cause that's all different. One of the things that I'm always asking people is their fears for our community and so I think given this experience and given where we have landed for the moment, I'm curious, what are your fears for this place?
rachel olzer.:Hmm. I mean, kind of In the immediate sense, my fears are just that people are emboldened by their hatred and what's happening nationally to act out those, desires. I think like on a larger scale and just like in a bigger sense, like my fear is always that of like apathy. My fear is always that okay, we did this and now we're good. Like I think we saw a lot of that af in the years following the uprising in 2020 of we ha we did all this work. And then it was okay, we're good. Like we, or like after Obama was elected and it was like, okay, we're good. I think, it's important to rest for the long haul of course, but I, I'm always afraid that. A victory for some means, an opportunity to check out. And in reality it's okay, you've seen like the underbelly, the ugly underbelly has been exposed, like now the work begins. And so I, yeah, it's like my hope in that is that we learn to rest rather than quitting.
mike.:The hope would be that these conversations work towards this idea of wholeness in our community. And it's hard to look at this whole situation and maybe sometimes understand how it moves us towards that. If it does at all. There's gonna be scars and there's gonna be damage that have happened, but I wanna. I would hope that we can, as a community move towards that idea. And I would be curious, when I say that idea of wholeness, when you look at this, what does wholeness look like to you in this space?
rachel olzer.:I don't know. That's a good question. I don't know if I'm always as good at, and this is something I'm working on, of seeing like the paradise. What is the paradise? I'm like so in it that I'm always like, what is the next place that we can build the bridge? But I don't always get to zoom out and see like the whole landscape. I think, I guess I don't know what wholeness means for our community. What I believe to be true is that I think this was historical for our community. I think that this will be written about, and my hope is that in being the victors, we get to write the story, and I hope that we do it justice to the complexity of the problem and really write a story that is whole. Maybe that is the wholeness I hope for right now.' cause I don't know what wholeness for our community looks like. And I think I spend a lot of time imagining what folks on the other side must believe. Having to sit with those folks and hear it from their mouths shakes me out of a naivety that I have to find my way back from. And I think that is where I'm at right now of what does it mean for these folks to not just believe this stuff in theory or not just vote that for these kinds of ideologies. To be willing to get up and say them in front of a room full of people. That's hard.
mike.:Well, rachel, I'm incredibly thankful that you would be willing to sit and to process this uh, together with me, thankful for your leadership and your guidance and your wisdom. And I know that it doesn't come without a cost. I would hope I could be one of the first people at the line to just say that I do believe in the work that you're doing and the work that all Bikes welcome is doing and that to create these spaces and to help create a place where everyone feels like they are welcome and that they can belong is needed and necessary. And so thank you that you're a part of this community. Thank you for being here. And just thanks for sharing all of this with us. I think we've got a lot to think through. So thank you for, thank you for being willing to share that.
rachel olzer.:Yeah. Thanks for having me.
mike.:Well, an incredible thank you to Dr. Olzer. This conversation brings into focus what was really at stake in the debate over the all bikes welcome mural. On the surface, it may have looked like a disagreement about paint colors under a bridge, but at its core it was about belonging identity and whether our community would make space for those that are too often pushed into the margins. Over nearly six months, what should have been a local decision about public art? Became a stage for national ideological politics, inclusion itself was framed as divisive, and religious nationalism and cultural War rhetoric were carried into our city government. It overshadowed the real stories of neighbors who simply wanted a mural to say that "You're welcome here." The council member who said it was one of the most important votes in the last decade. In many ways they were right. The outcome revealed who the roots of power, how that power is used, and how fragile the promise of welcome can feel when it is politicized. For some, the decision to keep the mural may have felt like a victory. But as Rachel reminded us, it has also left deep wounds. Harm was done in the process, harm in the spoken words, in the silence of those who might have stood alongside, and how certain voices were single out while others were left unexamined, and the cost was not only born by the organization and its advocates. Our entire community was affected because of how this debate unfolded. Did it deepen divisions? Did it erode trust? These are things we don't fully understand at this moment, but things that we will be carrying with us for years to come. I agree with Rachel, this was a masterclass in how our structures reveal the power dynamics within themselves, not just in national headlines, but in the everyday politics of a city council chamber, and yet there is hope here also. Because through this struggle, we have been invited into a deeper conversation about who we are becoming As a community. We cannot simply ignore what has been revealed. The discomfort that took place within our differences. The resistance to inclusion, but also the courage of those willing to stand up and say, all bikes are welcome, all people are welcome. This episode is not the end of the story, next week we're gonna turn to the artist herself, Paige Dirksen, who carried the vision of this mural from Sketch to Wall, and who found her art place in the middle of a civic battle that she did not ask for but could not ignore.
paige dirksen.:There should never be a debate about who has the right to exist, and that's what happened. And a lot of harm was done in that process. At the same time, I think that there are conversations within this situation that really needed to happen in our community. Things that have been bubbling, especially when it comes to the cycling community and who gets a seat at the table. This conversation really morphed into who belongs and is Bentonville welcoming? It doesn't mean we don't love our community or we don't love living here, just means we have areas to improve.. mike.: Paige's voice adds of beauty and risk and belonging in Bentonville. I wanna say thank you for listening, and I wanna say thank you for being the most important part of what our community is becoming. This is the underview, an exploration in the shaping of our place.
