Lifting the Mask: A Conversation with Sabir Abdussabur
“Make sure to meet in a public area,” said one; “stay safe,” said another. This was the advice my friends gave me the night before my interview with Sabir Abdussabur, the self-proclaimed “Masked Maniac.” Abdussabur is best known for riding around New Haven at high speeds on his black bicycle, wearing armor and a mask, all while blasting music through his boombox. However, it seems that there is only one reaction that the Masked Maniac elicits in students: fear.
Abdussabur quit his job as a barista at Starbucks two months ago to spend more time working on two projects. The first is a multimedia and marketing production company, 4Real Productions, that Abdussabur founded. At 4Real Productions, Abdussabur provides services including website design and online social media management; he also offers photoshoots and is planning to add videography to the company’s services. The second is the Youth Day Project — a yearly festival that encourages children to express their talents through “creative writing, song, rap, poetry, music, video gaming, parkour, and more” — that Abdussabur founded in January of 2010. Abdussabur is African-American and Muslim; his dad, Shafiq, is a New Haven law enforcement officer who has earned national acclaim for his approach to urban violence prevention that includes community-based policing.
Following a 2012 Spider-Man reboot, Abdussabur, a fan of cosplay, dressed up as Spider-Man and rode around downtown New Haven. He laughed telling the story. “Everybody took so well to it. I had so much fun. I was hanging out with firefighters, cops, and people would stop me on the street to take photos with me.” Abdussabur loves masks and is interested in the way people react to things they do not perceive to be normal. He wondered what the reaction would be if he wore a mask again; but this time, he would ride alone and at night. His reception could not have been more different. Abdussabur was pulled over by police who tried to charge him with a breach of the peace and reckless endangerment to the road; they claimed that Sabir could not see through the mask, though they refused to try it on for themselves. These experiences were formative for Abdussabur: “I realized that wearing this mask and riding around reminds me a lot of being black. I realized that I should keep doing this and make people get used to it. I could make them realize that just because they do not understand something, that does not mean they have to fear it.” Abdussabur thinks that even though his costume makes him difficult to understand, the music he plays should be enough to make people comfortable around him. He typically plays trap or dubstep remixes to popular hits, theme songs, or sounds. He has played music from Nickelback to the Marimba iPhone ringtone. He joked, “people say things like ‘I know that song, but this is a better version.’” One of his goals is to establish himself as a positive public figure in New Haven in order to promote the idea that we should not fear what we do not understand.
After breaking his leg in an accident with an SUV in September 2014, Abdussabur’s purpose evolved to include promoting safe behavior on the road. “It went from me biking to have fun and get people used to something they don’t understand, to me now biking to protect other people from accidents like that one, both pedestrians and cyclists.” It was also at this time that he started biking with body armor. Abdussabur tries to use his riding expertise and knowledge of the laws of the road to guide road behavior and condemn unsafe driving when he sees it. He has considered starting training lessons to teach cyclists without urban riding experience how to safely navigate New Haven’s narrow one-way streets and ride in wet weather.
Abdussabur takes his responsibilities as a citizen very seriously. He began focusing more on issues of police brutality with the goal of taking some of the burden of protecting New Haven’s residents away from police officers. He made it clear that this doesn’t take the place of his earlier goals of racial understanding and road safety; rather, his reason for the mask evolved: “Purposes get added on but nothing gets subtracted.” Abdussabur told me that he frequently calls out drivers who recklessly change lanes or drive too fast. He thinks that if citizens did their best to police each other in nonviolent ways, as active bystanders, it would minimize the amount of infractions that police officers have to deal with. “In my opinion, some police brutality comes from officers having to handle every little thing. Often times, a passerby, in the early stages of a crime, can mitigate that crime, provided that there are no weapons involved.” He summed up how he views his own responsibilities as a citizen: “It is just a matter of using the influence that I do have to help encourage citizen responsibility.”
As part of this responsibility, Abdussabur also tries to monitor police activity. If an officer runs a red light, he will often follow them to make sure that they are really in a rush. If they pull over for coffee or lunch, he will approach the— “why are you burning through lights, abusing your power, and almost hitting pedestrians if you are not in a rush?” Recently, he questioned a cop who was parked in the bike lane that opposes traffic on High Street with his lights off. He explained that this poses a threat to cyclists who do not expect a car to be illegally parked in the bike lane with its lights off.
While it seems that many do not understand the goals and rationale behind Abdussabur’s behavior, this should not deter students from getting to know him; on the contrary, they should make an effort to understand him. Abdussabur does not try to keep a low profile. Rather, he thinks that he will be more effective in achieving his goals if the community understands his motives. “Occasionally, I take time out of my day to talk to people. People like to take pictures and videos so I try to get to know them. At the end of the day, I am trying to be an example for both citizens and police.” He encourages police officers to do the same. He thinks that a common understanding and a positive relationship between residents and police officers would go a long way in reducing police violence.
In his Facebook bio, Abdussabur describes himself as, “Misunderstood: Cyclist, Artist, Athlete, Activist, Entrepreneur, Human Being…..” He is an advocate and a mentor. On his bike, Abdussabur strikes an imposing figure. An initial reaction of fear is understandable, even expected. This fear, however, should be acknowledged as a misunderstanding of the man behind the mask: those who fear him have, in large part, never spoken to him. Abdussabur is a man with relatable and respectable goals, a contagious laugh, and a productive outlook on civic and police responsibility. While many may not understand or agree with his methods, there is no reason not to respect his aims. He is doing his part to positively contribute to the city that we all live in. For this reason, we should get to know him, respect him, and celebrate him for his commitment to improving New Haven.
