While I respect your points, and agree with some of them myself, I disagree with your overall argument. I too would like to see data on how many poor people vs rich people in tampa ride bikes. They also likely ride for different reasons: transport vs leisure. I haven't been able to find statistics on this for tampa. If you find any, I would like to know.

That being said, with 26.2% of the population being black, and with 79% of the tickets being issued to them, blacks would have to break bike laws more than three times as often as anyone else in the city, including hispanics, another racial group that is often poor. (They make up 23% of the city). That seems unlikely to me. Why don't hispanics have similar rates of bike infractions?

I agree, the anecdotes don't prove anything, but this is journalism, not a scientific study. I never referenced those anecdotes, but the statistics of the area.

As for why "these people" can't not break the law, the truth is that we all break the law. But the law is not applied equally to all.

"You almost roll your eyes when you read the reports," said Circuit Judge Tracy Sheehan. "Oh no, another bike stop, another kid riding on the handlebars, here we go. And certainly, we have laws and we should all follow the law, but it occurred to me the stops were all occurring in certain neighborhoods and with certain children, and not in my neighborhood, and not with the white kids."

The law here is not being applied to prevent bike accidents, but as a tool to show active policing - something that is possible with written and oral warnings. Ticketing more strongly affects the poor who are less likely to be able to pay fines, which then incur late fees, and even jail time. This is why Ferguson, MO is in big trouble with the federal government right now.

There is no "end goal" of this "conspiracy" - a strong word there, my friend. It's a classic example of good goals (reducing crimes) being pursued in a manner which leads to racist ends. I "jump" to this explanation, because America has a long and storied history with racist policies. 50 years after segregation ended, blacks are still the poorer than any other group, below the poverty line at almost three (Tables A and B) times the amount of whites. They are also incarcerated for drug crimes far more than whites, even though drug use is relatively similar (Figure 2.12).

African Americans represent 12% of the total population of drug users, but 38% of those arrested for drug offenses, and 59% of those in state prison for a drug offense. Source

So why are there more tickets in the area? Because of more crime, which stems from more criminals. Why are there more criminals? Because there are more tickets and arrests for minor infractions, which send people to jail. People in jail spend time with other criminals. Instead of being rehabilitated (god forbid we give education and opportunities to people with records), they make criminal connections, and once on the outside, they are often unable to get a job or housing. With no legitimate way to make money, they turn to criminal pursuits, and end up in the system again. Combined with education systems where municipalities levy property taxes (I want my taxes to pay for my child's education, not going to poor people), and other policies, the deck becomes stacked against poor people, especially blacks, due to preexisting stereotypes. Racial profiling/racist policing is only one part of the story. America is supposed to be the land of opportunity for all. If you work hard, you can make it, but that is often not the case for poor people trying to make a better life for themselves.