It has been three weeks since our last update and we wanted to fill you all in! The petition is nearing 8k signatures. Please continue to share. 

First, thank you to everyone who has donated to the campaign via PayPal. If you would like to donate, our PayPal address is defundbikepolice@gmail.com. We are working with other BIPOC groups to determine where this money will be most helpful in the coming weeks. 

Now for some new news:

We have yet to hear anything back from Trek except that John Burke supports police and is proud of Trek's contracts with the police and secret service.

It is not possible to be proud of police contracts, but at the same time condone the actions of police. This is not a "one bad apple" situation, it is a "whole bad system" situation. If a brand sells bikes to police and the police use them as weapons then the brand is complicit in police brutality and systemic racism. Whether it is one cop of 800 cops, if they use a Trek Bike to assault people they become synonymous with police violence. 

Since the murder of George Floyd, over 120 additional Black people have been murdered by police. This is at the same time we have seen image after image of police assaulting protestors with their Trek Bikes for protesting just that- the murders of unarmed Black people by the police. 

As consumers of the Trek Brand and members of the cycling community, we have the opportunity to take our spending power elsewhere, so we will ask Trek again- will you immediately divest from police contracts?

We have been told that since this petition was launched, Trek HQ has received over 2,000 calls asking for them to divest. So our ask is that you (and everyone you know) continue to call or email Trek and demand divestment. 

Trek can be reached at 

(920) 478-2191
or

john_burke@trekbikes.com

chad_brown@trekbikes.com 

We need to keep the pressure on and let cycling brands know that we will not stand for companies who continue to supply or contract with the police. 

It has also recently come to light that several Trek employees and Women’s Ambassadors are feeling pressured to leave the company or have left after sending a formal letter requesting that the company divest from police contracts. Their ask of Trek was to consciously recruit and sponsor Black athletes amongst other initiatives that would diversify the company and create a more inclusive brand both internally and externally. They were gaslighted and dismissed.

For anyone who may be affected by these actions, please know that we respect, value and admire any person who uses their position and platforms to advocate for change. This is an important part of advocacy, and we see you. We are here to support any person who feels this pressure from Trek, and we’d love to hear from you so we can help shed light on the ways that Trek is attempting to silence allies to Black Lives Matter and those who support inclusion and diversity. 

You can contact us at defundbikepolice@gmail.com or through the contact form on our website. 

Please follow us on social media for more information:

IG @defundbikepolice

Twitter @bikedefund