Recumbent bike | Ride for Human Rights

[CAPSTONE • noun • 1: a finishing stone of a structure. 2: the crowning achievement, point, element, or event.]

Welcome to the 14th annual Ride for Human Rights.

I’m Joey.

Kangaroo Court Puppet.

Cyclist Jeffrey’s passenger.

***Shore to shore to shore to shore, 224 pins mark Joey’s nights on the road.***

Rooted in Australia.

Born in Korea.

Came to America in 1991, when Jeffrey and I made a video for Human Rights First.

From 1992-2004, Jeffrey taught asylum law to clinical students in Brooklyn NY and Newark NJ.

From 1996-2017, Jeffrey and I taught asylum law to lawyers, on behalf of bar associations we didn’t join.

“I don’t want to belong to any club that would have me as a member.”
—Groucho Marx

And from 2011-2023, we pedaled over 15,000 miles (24,000 km) from New York City to all 48 contiguous U.S. states. Plus DC.

***Atlantic to Pacific, the adventure was terrific. • To Superior, and below, to the Gulf of Mexico.• Snowy mountains, windy plains, through heat and cold and rains.***

Along the way, we had mutually respectful conversations with thousands of thoughtful people about immigration, refugees, and human rights.

We’ve opened some minds (“I had no idea!”); hearts (“May I give you a blessing?”); and wallets (people flagged us down to donate), in support of Human Rights First.

***Joey views painting by Jeffrey’s cousin Bernard D. Selby, public school teacher, USAAF corporal in WW2 (1910-1974).***

President Abraham Lincoln said in 1862, “People of any color seldom run unless there be something to run from.”

Human rights abuses create refugees. Stop the persecution and most people will choose to stay home.

HRF fights persecution, supporting human rights and human rights advocates worldwide.

Victims of persecution—on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion—who arrive in the USA have the legal right to ask for refuge.

The USA does not grant refuge easily. Asylum applicants must prove that they qualify under our complex legal system, using the English language.

HRF recruits and trains free lawyers to help asylum applicants document and argue their cases.

And HRF works for fair asylum laws in our country, humanely and sensibly applied.

On April 24, Jeffrey and I will retrieve our English folding recumbent tricycle from our friends Jim and Larry, with whom we left it at the end of the 2023 Ride from Utah to Minnesota.