Top Ten MC Mistakes

10-Law Enforcement

When an entity exists that isn’t part of your MC but still carries enough weight to affect your club, you have to give them their props as a disastrous agent or at the very least, a weapon of mass destruction.  It’s no secret that law enforcement use random road stops and check points to unfairly harass motorcyclists. Whether it’s quotas they need to meet or they’re allowing their small penis inferiority insecurities to get a hold of them through illegal profiling, it is an issue.  To be fair and I hate doing that when it comes to pigs, the motorcycle community is partly to blame for the heavy handed tactics that many law enforcement agencies practice. Sport bike riders in particular who ride recklessly performing stunts on public highways, drag race on residential streets, pop wheelies to impress imaginary fans are a problem.  Armed with mobile devices, cagers are alerting cops to these antics and when the cops can’t find the actual culprits, they bring in whoever they can and that in turn is a major concern.  Cruiser rides don’t get a pass with their stupidity however because I’ve found that cruiser riders seem to think they’re immune to the effects of alcohol. While sport bike riders don’t need liquid courage to be complete stupid assholes on the road, cruiser riders generally do and the results are the same: additional law enforcement surveiliance and harassment for all of us, sport bike riders and cruiser guys alike. Admittedly I am no fan of law enforcement in any capacity but when I can make the case as to why they have a presence in our lives based on our own stupidity, that is an issue.  I know quite a few MC’s that have rules against stunting and outright stupid riding (I’m not going to include an excess of speed as stupid riding or even white lining) and drinking and lack of self control provokes and stirs the ire of law enforcement serves only to ruin the riding for everyone involved.

People also fail to realize that cops see MC’s as gangs. They do not consider us clubs. They consider us gangs and once we get on their radar, we stay on their radar as they start to build a docket against the club. In other words because they’ve stopped or have seen Club XYZ routinely behaving badly, that club becomes part of a growing data base and it gives the cops permission to stop any club member rocking a cut at any point whether they’re breaking the law or not.  If members do not respect the “when” and “how” to ride then everyone in the community, but especially other members in their own club will suffer the consequences.  

“Did you ever stop to think why cops are always famous for being dumb? Simple. Because they don't have to be anything else.” Orson Welles  

9-MC Culture Ignorance

In what I can only describe as arrogance, I do not understand how someone can proclaim themselves an MC when they are blatantly ignorant of the politics, social do’s and you better never do of the community they’re entering. Ignorance often ignites the animosity between “real” or what I refer to as traditional clubs and these fly by night clubs who like to say the traditional clubs are hating. What these fly by night clubs don’t realize is that it’s not hate at all but rather it’s actually love. Because the traditional clubs love the MC culture so much they’re willing in their own way teach you, whether through violence, intimidation or in some cases a blog (Stay Sucka MC, y’all) how a “real” MC behaves and moves within the circuit. If an elder is trying to school you on how to rock your cut then listen. He cares enough to school you then that means he must see something in you that made him think you deserve his time. It’s not hating when someone pulls you to the side and says, “Only homosexuals would bedazzle a cut” or “Don’t ever call a Diamond Club Vest Holder a brother if he hasn’t given you permission to do so.” It’s actually insulting to that man and he and anyone in his club has the right to lay hands on you if you were to do that. Trust me, I’ve seen it happen. You should never refer to a 1% as your brother unless through conversation he’s referred to you that way first. You are NOT his equal in any capacity and if and when he does call you brother, he’s extended a respect to you that you in turn should return by then referring to him as brother. Again, this may be news to many of you and instead of sucking your teeth and saying, “who the hell do they think they are?” remember that it’s their world and you’re in it. Respect is given to those who show it.

I’m delighted to have met a few clubs that actually take the time to teach their prospects formally about MC culture. These “courses” are taught by the stronger members in each club who are affluent in MC culture, politics and history. They recognize that by having ignorant members rocking their colors and misrepresenting the club on the circuit can and will result in the club having a tarnished name. Having said that, I’ve been asked to speak formally to prospects based on the knowledge I’ve shared in these blogs and I am happy to do that for any club which asks me to do so.

“Children's talent to endure stems from their ignorance of alternatives.” Maya Angelou

8-Disastrous Appointments

We touched on this a few weeks back in a previous blog and based on the reaction we received it’s an issue in quite a many a club out there. Appointing wrong people to positions within a club can easily result in eight years of George W. Bush mistakes left for a new administration to clean up. Like what Mr. Bush did in tarnishing the reputation and standing of the United States on a global level, your MC could be left decimated with a lack of members, a poor reputation and an outlook that’s as fertile as scorched Earth in a Cambodian killing field. Like with any job that has to be filled, positions need to be occupied by people qualified to do the respective jobs they entail. From there, based on their knowledge of each other, members should be able to determine who is best suited for what position. I believe there are some transparent criteria people must have for specific positions.

A President is someone who should have a good standing in the MC community and be able to lead fairly. Because a person is a Founder does not entitle them to be President because not all Founders are good leaders. That is a very specific distinction in having a vision and then being of character to see that vision through and have your members trust your leadership and words enough to fall in line. A VP is the most politically agnostic of the entire MC because he cannot be the lackey of the President as he is the primary point person between the President and the club members. That person must have a fair and balanced ear on both sides of his head. A Secretary must be detail oriented, articulate and professional and finding those qualities in individual members within an MC can be difficult. That person in my opinion must be affluent digitally because as the primary communication officer they need to be adroit in Facebook, mobile and general media outlets. A Treasurer should have as much a professional acumen as the Secretary but coupling his ability with the numbers should have the ability to forecast and set goals for events to be deemed successes in terms of dollars. I firmly believe if the The Sgt. Of Arms has no history of violence in his rap sheet or does not present the threat of violence in his demeanor then he will ultimately be ineffective. That position is the heaviest in my opinion outside of the President and like the President, presence in the case of the Sgt. Of Arms matters a great deal. Motorcyclists or bikers by nature do not like to conform and for a club to exist and function properly, rules must be set in place. If those rules are not enforced the club will ultimately fail. The Sgt of Arms will be called at times to reign in unruly members and if violence is required, he needs to be prepared to do that. More importantly, the members need to understand violence is an option. Now imagine the threats faced by outside groups and one starts to understand why a SOA should be well versed in some form(s) of self defense and/or fire arms. I truly believe anything less is not satisfactory for that position.  Road Captain criteria does not include who has the baddest bike or who rides the fastest; rather instead it’s the person who rides the safest, is considerate of the various skill levels of everyone in the club, makes himself familiar with routes (including being aware of check points, gas stops, problem areas, etc,) and most importantly, a person who actually enjoys riding. Unfortunately we know not all people in MC’s actually ride or enjoy riding their motorcycles so this position is especially contingent on the motorcycle  itself and how that person interacts with it.

Readers of the blog know I do not acknowledge the PRO position not because I don’t believe in it but because as a traditionalist I just won’t acknowledge it. It’s not something traditional MC’s subscribe to and certainly not a position found in any true Outlaw or 1% organization. Having said that, the PRO should demonstrate the qualities of the Secretary and be incredibly personable and available internally to club members and the MC community that the club and he/she is exposed to.

“America is the land of the second chance - and when the gates of the prison open, the path ahead should lead to a better life.” George W. Bush  

7-Spouses

Like the Pigs in Point 10, any entity that is not directly involved in the MC but qualifies to be mentioned in this top ten should be considered a weapon of mass destruction. I can speak from experience in saying if you leave your home to do something with your MC and you know your spouse is not happy that you left, it is nearly impossible to enjoy whatever it is you’re going to do and potentially the ride becomes dangerous because you are mentally distracted. Of course that’s contingent on you actually caring about how your spouse actually feels but I’m speaking within the vacuum of a happy home. If a spouse whether male or female is not comfortable with their wife or husband being in an MC, then ultimately the MC will rightfully lose out and that MC could very well lose a very good member.  Without blurring the lines of this blog being good MC practices and not better marriage practices, all I can say about that is married people in an MC where their spouse is not in the slightest bit affiliated need to take care of home first or their MC home will be foreclosed upon with a swiftness.  I have found that it behooves an MC to attend or have family friendly functions from time to time where spouses and children may attend to put the other half at eases if in case there is actually an issue.

Again, readers of this blog know that I would never be a member of any mixed gender club based on my experiences having done it before and based on conversations I’ve had with both women and men who have had negative experiences because of the gender issues.  Lastly as a traditionalist, I do not subscribe to women rocking the same patch as men in an MC organization. That is not a slight towards women but rather the celebration of independence of both genders to behave and act separate of each other freely. Gender issues are too numerous to list here but rest assured we all know they exist and they’re real and they can cripple an MC.  Because of that, clubs that subscribe to my traditional mentality of not mixing the genders must have family friendly events that extend the circle of brotherhood within the MC to the extended family that is often the “real” family that allows respective members to participate in the MC in the first place.

 “It is better to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife.” Proverbs 21:9

6-Non-Riders

I do not believe in mixing the genders in an MC and I do not believe in mixing riders with non-riders because ultimately it will grow dissention and fragment whatever hope of brotherhood should be in the MC. Case in point: I do not believe any member of an MC who does not ride his motorcycle to a motorcycle event should have any say so that could impact the riders in the club who are actually riding. The pecking order starts with bikers and doesn’t extend beyond that. If you are not a biker your opinion should not matter…rather, does not matter in a real motorcycle club. Non-riders are like a cancer that may or may not spread but remain malignant in whatever part of the MC they germinate from. Because non-riders are unaware of the trials and tribulations bikers may experience in rides, they can’t relate to the mentality of real bikers. If you cannot relate to your brother, then you are essentially disconnected and disconnection implies a chink in the armor, and a chink in the armor suggest there is a weakness making the man (MC) behind the armor, vulnerable.  I have no issue for non-riders but I have a personal animus that is borderline violent towards non-riders in an MC. I wouldn’t join the chess club if I had no intention of playing chess. I wouldn’t join the Mickey Mouse Club if I’m deathly afraid of Mickey Mouse so why non-riding fools join a motorcycle club if they have no intention of riding is something that baffles me to the point of figuring it out through repeated brass knuckled blows to the face.

While I am a Christian who subscribes to Old Testament theatrics, I do understand that non-riders may contribute in other areas of the club and that’s fine. For whatever reason these particular men may not be man enough to accompany their brothers on a twenty hour ride and they may end up trailing is ultimately on them. While nothing will change my opinion that I find men of that ilk distasteful and not worthy of the title of “man”, they could very well be decent human beings. Those human beings however must never be allowed to vote on anything within the club that relates to riding especially on rides that they themselves are not on their two’s for. They need to be made to understand the pecking order in the club and there is no pecking for non-riders.  

“The biggest issue was figuring out what the pecking order was “ Patrick Dempsey

5-Quantity vs. Quality

Former Mongols MC national president Ruben “Doc” Cavazos made an incredible mistake in his war against the Mexican Mafia. He enlisted gang bangers who knew nothing about the MC community and in some cases never had ridden a motorcycle, but patched them into the Mongols MC. He did it to boost the numbers of the club and to ensure he had blood proven soldiers who wouldn’t have any issue with going to war with the MM. That ploy backfired disastrously as the raw violent nature of the bangers put the Mongols forever on every law enforcement agency’s radar but also created a division within the Mongols ranks between “real” Mongols and these new generation bangers. As a result the war got incredibly bloody, members were killed, law enforcement came in and now Cavazos is a government informant and considered a pariah in the eyes of any true biker who lives to the code regardless of the patch on their back.

In selling out for numbers, he compromised the integrity of his club and I see many clubs do this now. Where it’s not so much for the numbers in terms of forming a violent army, it’s for the numbers in terms of winning at trophy parties, for having the most members with patches, for having this or that and what happens, we allow weak people into a community that has been becoming increasingly weak especially since the show Sons of Anarchy has inspired people to get steroid patches. By that I mean men who imagine their bravado growing like a blood fuel penis just by throwing a cut on their back. What they don’t realize is the responsibility that comes with that cut (see above in MC ignorance). MC’s need to understand that members should not be treated like a random woman’s privates; in other words, quantity over quality is not the recommended mode of operations when it comes to building a true MC. It’s better to have five members who believe whole heartedly to the principles and core values of your club than 25 people who will show up at parties and help you win trophies.

“It’s an MC, club people, not pussy.”  Quote from a source discussing this issue of quantity over quality who has asked to remain nameless.

4-“Sarah Palin” Prospecting

I’m a political junkie and I have always found it incredibly reckless that the McCain campaign didn’t investigate Sarah Palin with the scrutiny that was normally required of all candidates vying for political office. The reason they didn’t is because they didn’t have any time and the McCain camp was being lost under the celebrity that was a Senator from Chicago named Barak Obama.  With a process that traditionally takes two and sometimes three months, Sarah Palin was green lit after a two day investigative process. The result of that accelerated and half assed time table and procedure was a rogue agent who derailed the campaign, proved that her positives didn’t outweigh her negatives and finally destroyed the campaign internally. She was a wild card that proved too wild. John McCain was the maverick and Sarah Palin was the grizzly bear Soviet Union watching anarchist at the front door.

Too many MC’s have half hazard prospecting periods where their ranks are infiltrated by inferior and in some cases dangerous candidates who aren’t reflective of the core principles of that MC and its members. Worse, rushed prospect periods can result in undercover cops infilitrating organizations and causing disruptions that can derail operations for years if not permanently. The Hell’s Angels in Ontario know something about that as do the Mongols. While most clubs aren’t traveling in RICO circles, properly vetting candidates will eliminate false pretenses and expose truths that can be concealed in half ass prospecting protocols.

The responsibility of prospecting however does not rest squarely upon the shoulders of the club. The prospect needs to realize that while they are prospecting, they need to evaluate whether or not that club is reflective of who they are as person. Research that club and do your MC history locally and nationally. Does that club have pre-exsisting violent conditions that may prevent you from riding your motorcycle with your colors on in any state? Is that club under the radar of law enforcement and balance that with your professional and personal commitments because I assure you, “birds of a feather all cluck together” which  means to the cops you may be a dentist by day, but the minute you put that cut on, you’re a gotdamn criminal. Additionally truly examine how the members treat and react to each other. If you’re serious about joining a serious MC and you know your stuff, cross your T’s and dot your I’s and if that club isn’t doing the same thing, ask yourself if that’s the club for you.

Don’t Sarah Palin your club.

"He who warned, uh, the British that they weren't gonna be takin' away our arms, uh, by ringing those bells, and um, makin' sure as he's riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be sure and we were going to be free, and we were going to be armed." --Sarah Palin, botching the history of Paul Revere's midnight ride, June 3, 2011

3-Rogue Chapters

You ever meet a club in one state and totally get along with them, understand their vibe, dig their members and go one state over and meet the same patch and not know who the hell you’re talking to? Understand, it’s not that I’m promoting a uniformity in terms of how people should act but I am promoting a uniformity in terms of how people should represent the patch on their back. In other words, if the core principles of the club have been properly drilled into respective club members, then there is a code of conduct and principles that never change. I know certain clubs that do not allow for smiling in public pictures. Meaning the pics that members take within the club house when only members are present and those photos are for club only, anything goes. I mean for the love of God, even Suge Knight smiled once and a while but when the club is presenting itself as a fist (not a hand, but a fist) at public events and functions there is usually a presentation agreed upon and on the books that all members need to follow. If the club understanding is to wear black at all formal bike functions, then why show up with blue jeans? Look, things happen and I understand the second example I bring up is somewhat trivial but understand as well that agreeing to fall in line presents a much stronger overall face to the general public and MC community. It demonstrates a unified call and understanding of that brotherhood from the most shallow point to the deepest.
For the record, I hate black jeans.

 “And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”  Hebrews 4:13

2-Founders Ego

Having dealt and still dealing with Founders on many levels and not just MC’s, I find there is a very common trait. Insecurity coupled with control issues which if left unmanaged may cripple the organization which they’ve built.  Years ago I had taken all the steps necessary to form my own MC. I had a core group who had bought into my original philosophy and what our mission was. And then something very interesting happened which I wasn’t prepared for. These guys had bought into my original idea so much that they took it places I hadn’t thought of (some good, some bad), they challenged me on things they felt very strongly about and all the while communicating the passion for my original idea. It was humbling and terrifying all at the same time.  I had to release some ideas that I had held onto with a vise like grip because I realized in order to make people feel they are truly part of an organization, I needed to allow them to make decisions that would impact that organization. I had to continue to diet on humble pie by putting things to a vote even when I knew in my head that I would be voted down on certain things. It was not an easy thing to do. Ultimately I dissolved the club before we moved into the final stage of forming for reasons entirely of my own accord but that process of being a democracy instead of a dictatorship was humbling, painful and incredibly powerful.

Unfortunately most Founders cannot do that. I have found that Founders take on this attitude that the club they formed is their baby and the members who have signed on aren’t just men, but rather their children who he must continue to lead by pushing his agenda, his vision and his plan. It’s ridiculous and it’s a recipe for disaster.

For an organization to grow, the people within that organization must feel that they can impact that organization  with changes they can see and feel and express confidendtly. They want to feel that they are contributing. No one likes a dictatorship. Look at history and if anyone keeps up with the news, revolts are the big thing going around now. Founders need to swallow their egos and understand that if people have agreed to be in their club, you’ve already won. If you’ve scouted your prospects out correctly (see above) and they still want to be part of the club, then allow them once they’re in the club to represent the clubs principles how they believe they should be presented. It’s a testimony to you to see and allow that to happen.

“People need to learn the difference between their ego and their opinion. And trust me, there is a difference.” Dan Castellaneta

1-Brotherhood

Please see the nine points above.

“The crest and crowning of all good, life's final star, is Brotherhood.” Edwin Markham  

The staff of Sucka Free MC wants to thank all the people who contributed to the article above. We took a survey and provided people the opportunity to share their own club challenges and problems and we put together a list that was based on recurring themes we found in our research. We’re very interested in knowing what everyone else thinks. What are the issues we missed and do you think we’re wrong on any of the ones above. Let’s get a dialogue going.

Thank you for reading, sharing and commenting and thank you first and foremost for staying Sucka MC Free, y’all.