Co-directed and written by Debra Koffler + Vero Majano; Edited by Debra Koffler; Executive Producers: Sandy Cuadra + Debra Koffler; Archival footage provided by the Ray Balberan Mission Mediarts Archive. 2010.

In the eighties, in San Francisco’s Mission district on Friday and Saturday nights, the streets would be packed with a parade of candy-apple paint and shiny chrome, lowriders cruising up and down Mission Street, whose sidewalks were filled with young Latinos and other spectators who came for the weekend ritual to gather, socialize, and dance to oldies. Through lowriding, young Latinos expressed cultural pride and claimed their public space, which became threatened by police harassment when anti–lowrider traffic laws changed the dynamics of the community. Why I Ride: Low and Slow takes you on a cruise with the Mission District’s original lowriders who reminisce and tell their own story of organizing resistance to SF City Hall for their rights to public space, which inspired the founding of La Raza Park and a new generation of community activists. This film, a moving photo album documenting local history, features rare 16mm footage shot by the Mission MediArts crew in the early eighties.