Unlike a lot of "pass through" corporations, November is one to every letter, spirit, and nuance of the term. We are it, it is us. We're fortunate enough to have built a community of people who share part of a value set that we hold dear and hopefully embody, and in that sense you are all November and November is all of you, but functionally, it's just the two of us.
November itself began as a form of protest, though it was against a system much less harmful than what we see now. Today, protests and events of dire consequence envelop our world. The systemic repression of people of color, gay, trans, immigrants, and others is real, and it has to end. No one can revert to "normal life" until "normal life" means the same thing to all of us, not privilege to some and oppression to others.
We (Mike and Dave) have the "luxury" of being straight white males. Though we've heard the "get off the road, faggot" slur like probably every lycra-wearing roadie reading this also has, to us directly it's a fleeting offense and not an existential threat. Too many others know the core rattling dread that this must cause, the lifetime of fear and pain these churn at every instance.
Neither of us has ever gone for a bike ride on new bike day, new wheel day, or any other day, and had people question whether we stole the bike, or what we're doing on it, or if we're running from something. We've slow rolled though plenty of stop signs, never really questioning if we'd wind up with a busted up face and a rap sheet for simply doing what cyclists do.
We support every person's right to protest against oppression, and to rise up when that becomes the only available remedy. We also support the law enforcement personnel who faithfully uphold and execute their duty to protect and serve. We yearn for a world where everyone can live with the freedom that we've taken for granted.
We have only the voice that we have. Grand but empty gestures are neither possible nor purposeful. As people, we've supported our beliefs with action and will continue to do so. As a company, our statement is our action. More than any other product or business decision we've made or will make, speaking up is a risk. Not speaking, however, is failure. "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, but lose his soul?" If revealing our soul costs us our world, it was never ours in the first place.
11 comments
I don’t own any of your wheel sets yet, but thank you for this post. As a straight white male myself, it is hard to find the right words in these times. Acknowledging the privilege is definitely a strong first step. Keep up the good work.
Hmmm, maybe instead of waiting for the replacement November stickers I’ll replace them myself with pride coloured equivalents. As a trans lesbian, it’s nice to hear the words of support. While are an increasing number of places on earth I cannot safely go, it’s nice to find welcoming ones for myself, my sisters and our increasingly large stable of (bicycle) steeds. Hopefully, if I can get the frame out of China, I’ll be ordering a set a MTB wheels.
Not that I needed another reason to support your company but here it is.
Thanks, everyone. When COVID started and everyone needed a distraction, putting up a torrent of posts seemed like a great idea, and it actually seemed kind of easy to do. After Friday and the weekend, Monday’s post was a bit forced, and then yesterday was like “there’s no way we’re taking about bike wheels today.” I don’t know when we’ll get back to it (even the word “normal” is a bit acid these days, as I’m much more aware of how much “normal” has sucked for a lot of people), but when we do I hope we’ll be different and better people.
To that end, Joshua has raised a question that’s likely to be our next post. It’s an excellent question, and a difficult one to answer, and one that’s already raised a lot of thought and discussion between us. For a company our size, with our reach, it’s too easy to focus on what we can’t do. When you run a company as small as this one, what you can’t do often plays way too big a role. I’m challenging myself to be much more creative with what November CAN do, and what you can too. As it turns out, I’ve already been involved in what I think is my top idea, but there are more.
Thanks again.
Wow, Chapeau!