Soaking wet from his commute through a rainstorm and Roxbury traffic, Carl Kurz drags his bicycle into the home of Bikes Not Bombs, an advocacy group for peace and the environment that also functions as a bike shop and youth center.
The shop is congested with rows upon rows of bicycles in various stages of restoration. Every spare inch of floor space is used to store parts that, like the bicycles, have been donated to the non-profit organization. Instructors at Bikes Not Bombs use these donations to teach young people how to repair and build bikes that are then sold locally or shipped to third-world countries in Central America, the Caribbean, and Africa.
Kurz, 45, founded the non-profit organization in 1984 as a response to President Ronald Reagan’s actions against Nicaragua. A bike mechanic since the age of 15, Kurz disagreed with United States foreign policy in that nation, and challenged the economic embargo by sending bikes and parts to Nicaragua. In total, Bikes Not Bombs shipped 20,000 bikes to the nation.
Since then, the organization has sent bikes and additional aid to Haiti, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, and Ghana. Teams of technicians have traveled to these countries to set up bicycle shops and assist in the production of grain grinders and water pumps partially made from bike parts.
In recent years, however, the group’s focus has turned to the youth of the Roxbury community.
‘Looking at our own society’s role in contamination and the overuse of energy,’ Kurz explained, ‘we felt there was a whole age group of people who are not yet invested in the system as much as adults who’ve already bought a car and may end up paying more for it over their lives than they do their housing.
‘So at age 14, 15, 16, with a T-pass and a bicycle, these kids can really have mobility and get around and expand their horizons without spending the money adding to pollution in this consumptive complex.’
At Earn-A-Bike classes, children and teenagers learn lessons about bike mechanics, as well as community development, pollution, energy consumption and social justice. Students get to keep their bikes once they have completed the course. Instructors include adult volunteers and graduates from the Teen Vocational Training Program, such as Luis Santiago, a 17-year-old senior at English High School in Jamaica Plain.
Santiago took his first Earn-A-Bike course five years ago, and he has been involved with Bikes Not Bombs ever since.
After graduating from the Teen Vocational Training Program, Santiago was hired to teach classes and work in the shop twenty hours each week. He said this experience at his first real job has dramatically improved his math skills and made him more responsible. He also credited Kurz and the Bikes Not Bombs staff with opening his eyes to the bicycle’s value.
‘You see that car rolling along, and it costs so much money, plus the insurance and registration,’ Santiago said. ‘With all the traffic, you can get to most places faster on a bike than in a car. And it’s better physically, too. Taking a car’s just lazy.’
Though Kurz says he does not impose his views on students or employees, discussions with teenagers like Santiago, who spend a great deal of time in the shop, inevitably creep into the political arena.
‘We have many Latinos who work here, and we do get into the political and social conditions in their community as well as in Latin America,’ Kurz said. ‘I think they’re aware discrimination doesn’t just happen here at the local level. That it may be even worse when it comes down to Uncle Sam dealing with Guatemalans. But the average kid who comes in is going to learn a little about the politics of oil and the U.S. approach to energy consumption. They’re going to hear about the environmental ramifications of that consumption.’
While some have questioned how ‘Not Bombs’ applies to the organization’s focus on child and community development, Kurz contends peace activism is an integral part of the group’s mission. By equipping young people with an understanding of the relationship between excessive energy consumption and the military, he feels Bikes Not Bombs remains true to his mission.
Commenting on the possible war with Iraq, Kurz said, ‘I just don’t think that the world can keep spending this much money on militarism and perpetual warfare without some major economic collapses. Russia couldn’t keep up with it and I don’t think the U.S. can keep up with it. That’s why a lot of these other countries are really hesitant to play the world peacekeeper or policeman role. They don’t want to suffer that kind of economic collapse.’
Funding for Bikes Not Bombs comes from private donations, grants and the little revenue drawn by the bike shop. This financial year was particularly difficult for the organization, and life on the edge of nonprofit extinction has taken its toll on Kurz.
The organization’s leadership was forced to restructure and re-evaluate their operations. Full-time employees were asked to take a voluntary month of non-paid leave, and the executive director position was eliminated. But the group’s community outreach programs carried on as usual.
The decline in help has substantially increased Kurz’s workload, and he is constantly juggling multiple responsibilities at the shop. Eventually he hopes conditions at Bikes Not Bombs will improve. But for now, Kurz is driven to continue to educate children against what he sees as an increasingly destructive culture.
‘I’ve already accepted that the monster I’m taking on is so huge,’ he said. ‘But I can at least weaken some corners. It’s about developing a consciousness and having a peaceful and dignified way to stand up for your rights and the rights of the environment.’
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