Biker Racism: The Jim Crow MC Nation Pt. II Those Racist Black Bastards

If I were an X-Men my mutant power would be my ability to be extremely comfortable in uncomfortable situations. It’s a quality I developed at a very young age that annoyed my parents to no end.  Because I do possess that quality it also allows me to write a blog that apparently makes a great many people uncomfortable yet doesn’t negatively affect my ability to not give a shit in the slightest.

So this week I’ve decided to launch my own Extinction Agenda (X-Men fans know what I'm referring to with that one) and bring up (for the second time) the very uncomfortable topic of race and racism within the biker community. This time however we’re going to take a race neutral approach when discussing race. I know what you’re thinking. How can anyone take a race agnostic position when they’re speaking about race because since that person has got to be a member of a race, neutrality is impossible...? In other words, "Preacha, you're black so how can you not speak from a black man's point of view?"

I'm about to flip the whole world on you right now.

Before I’m black I’m a biker.

I’m gonna say that again.

Before I’m black I’m a biker.

I have found that because so many black bikers cannot see past race they immediately come into the MC community as a Sucka MC and never achieve that premium level of legitimacy that is necessary for a club to be mentioned in the upper echelons of clubs. In other words, do you want to be a black club that's well known in your black backyard or do you want to be an MC that's known in the global MC backyard? I have to ask black (and white) MC's do you want to be the flounder fish in your little pond or would you rather be a shark in the ocean? I don't fuck with flounder fish. I eat them. The wall of racism borders both sides of the property line and that means black* bikers can't see past their own racism and their own racism and ignorance becomes their own form of slavery.

When I consider my club, who I ride with, who I drink with, who I call my brother, I’m not considering what color he is but rather, I’m looking at how he carries himself as a biker. I’m looking at whether or not he respects the traditions and protocols that bikers have followed since the days of the Boozefighters MC. I’m looking to see if this person has studied the rules of engagement within the community and respects them enough to see them through. I’m looking at the men he calls brother to see if they are truly a reflection of their brother or if their club has allowed sloppy members in (probably just to boost numbers). I’m looking at how they interact with women, especially Property because as a form of respect and knowledge, any biker who knows what to do and not to do with another bikers Property is a man I know I can have a drink with.I'm looking to see how they address me and how they expect to be addressed. I make note of  the patches on his rags and where they're placed and what they say. I notice that bottom rocker.

Notice in all that I never brought up the color of a person’s skin.

If you are truly a biker you shouldn’t be concerned with the color of a man’s skin because if that man (or woman) has subscribed to The Life with the passion and commitment that this Life demands, then we all should technically be on the same page regardless of color and to a degree, regardless of gender. I have met female bikers that not only I’d throw down shots of Jack with but in a fight, I’d rather have them by my side then some of these “men” out here.  I have been told numerous times that I’m hard on the sport bike riders and yes I know I make no secret of my disdain for Jap burners however I do not judge the people riding them.  Bikers have general society to hate us so I don’t understand how we could invite an additional layer of hatred within our own brotherhood to further segment the bond that should be there regardless of what style bike we ride and/or what color skin we were blessed to be born into.

Traditionally the image of the racist One Percent White brotherhood is the one that’s been tattooed into the collective brown brains of colored folks. The spider webbed elbow tats and the swastikas adorning rags flying side by side with the Confederate flag are those race triggering images that have conditioned people to believe a person is racist.

And for the most part in general society if you run into a person celebrating those symbols they are racists but the same doesn't hold true with bikers.  Many old school bikers wore the German symbol of death not as an allegiance to Hitler but rather to disgust and turn away polite society from approaching them. In other words, bikers were scorned by the general populace so instead of allowing their feelings to be hurt by it, they celebrated it instead. It’s the same mentality that gave birth to the idealism behind the 1 Percent patch and attitude.   

Admittedly it’s not something black people have picked up on except with the word nigga. Though the word has disappeared from my own vernacular, a lot of black people today justify using that word as a term of empowerment. Translation: they took it from white people and de-powered it because its become (for the person saying it in addressing another black person) a term of endearment. Again, not an ideology I agree with but it is what it is.

What blacks haven’t done for the most part is take racist symbols like the noose and the Confederate flag and owned those things like bikers have taken the swastika and the 1% title and made it their own.  What black people also have yet to get over is the image of the racist hulking white biker who wants nothing to do with black people. Too many black bikers are convinced that the typical white biker is a KKK member without the white sheets trading it in instead for a leather vest and a Harley Davidson tattoo.

I’m gonna have to call bullshit on that.

Not only is that not the truth (notice I didn’t say furthest from because in some cases it is) but those stereotypical bikers who look the part tend to be the nicest, most normal people you didn’t have a conversation with. The racist image of who bikers are is not only stupid but it also gets African American bikers hurt…and not the way you might be thinking.

For years I have preached to stubborn African American bikers that if you want to form your own MC and want to make it legit, you must go through the dominant 1% club in your area.** If that dominant club happens to be white, then you must go to the white boys. If that dominant club happens to be Hispanic, you gotta go to the brown boys. If that dominant club happens to be black, then you go to the black boys and while African American MC’s have no issue going to the black or Hispanic clubs (if they follow protocol at all which I find is unlikely but coupled with if they can get over the fear of meeting with a 1% club) they have a much harder time going to the white dominant club because “they don’t want to kiss no white boy’s ass”. The other one I hear a lot is “they don’t do shit for us so we ain’t doin’ shit for them”.

If you don't know your history (and let's face it, many of you don't) you actually don't know what those white boys did for you and in some cases, those white boys have done something for you. For example in New York twenty years ago, there was one dominant club and that club didn't allow anyone to fly any colors on the Island. They reinforced their rule with extreme violence. It wasn't until another set of unruly white boys came along and fought the war against that dominant club and won, did things change out on the Island. So when I hear black MC's say collectively, "Those white boys never did shit for me" I shake my head. A few years ago you wouldn't even have been allowed to fly your patch unless those white boys fought the war that you would've been too chicken shit to fight yourself. That's what those white boys did for you and now you're showing them the utmost disrespect by not going to their clubhouse and announcing your intentions to create your own club.

Put yourself in their shoes. You and your club fought the war to make your hood MC friendly and then you have all these pop up MC's who refuse to acknowledge you, your club and what you did to establish yourselves. You'd feel slighted and in some cases, you might even feel angry. 

So my question is when you start a new club why not just go to the dominant's club house just to say, "Hi." When you come into someone's house don't you greet them and show them respect as the host? That's essentially the same attitude you need to take when considering the dominant club in your area, regardless of their race. You are in THEIR house and they're allowing you to play in their backyard and just as easily as they allow you to play, they can take away that invite...with brute force. 

If you want the first thing those white boys do with you is to roll up on you and snatch your rags and tell you that you need to come see them, then by all means go ahead. You'll learn soon enough the hard way.  And, by the "hard way" I don’t mean they’re going to force you to read my blog either.

Going to the dominant club that happens to be white doesn’t mean they want you to kiss their ass. The dominant club isn’t looking at you like you’re the black club coming to see them. They don’t look at you like you’re the Asian club coming to see them. They’re looking at you like a respectful club giving respect and in turn they’re going to give you respect back.  By going to the dominant club to start your own club and getting sanctioned you’re letting them know you know and respect traditional protocol. By giving that level of respect, you’ll be surprised at how these racists, noose knitting, Aryan supremacists are quick to shake your hand and if you’re lucky, tell you that your money is no good at their bar.

There is a particular biker bar in New York where I used to frequent by myself.  It was one of the few remaining places where you could wear your rags without having to keep them on your bike. I’d make note of all the One Percenters hanging out there.  On any given night it looked like a RICO top ten most wanted list. They’d come in and you can imagine their reaction seeing one black guy drinking by himself not paying them any mind. I never gave them an inch and because of that they never tried to take a foot.  Eventually they saw I knew how to carry myself and I was respecting their traditions and all this without wearing rags ( I was independent at the time). They recognized and accepted me as a fellow biker.

What does that mean?

It meant they used biker jargon around me. It meant men could be men and when we had uncomfortable conversations everyone was actually comfortable because before we were white or black, we were all bikers and that kind of brotherhood goes beyond skin color. The last time I was at that bar, my wife and I were not allowed to reach into our pockets to pay for a thing.  My wife may very well have been one of the few black women on Facebook who had a FB profile with big , burly white One Percenters surrounding her singing to Al Green.  Because they all recognized her as my Old Lady they treated her like their sister…literally.

Am I pulling the wool over my eyes and saying all white bikers are just big ol’ teddy bears who would’ve marched with Martin Luther King Jr during the 60’s? C’mon, man I’m not stupid but what I am saying is don’t you be stupid and generalize them.  Generalizations tend to border that line of racism and we as bikers can’t afford the high cost of racism especially when there’s a current state of inflation in being a Sucka MC .

African American MC’s already are handicapped because like we do in our day to day lives, we have no interest nor drive in learning and respecting our history and our contributions to this world, MC and otherwise.

Unfortunately the same thing applies to the MC community.

Because not enough of us have taken the time to study and appreciate the Bessie Stringfields, the Tobie Gene Livingston’s and the Sugar Bears of the MC community we don’t act accordingly. How could you ride disrespectfully if you knew what Tobie had to go through to launch the East Bay Dragons? How as a female could you choose to enter the MC community with your legs wide open instead of your helmet tightly on if you understood what Bessie Stringfield had to go through traveling across this country as a black woman alone on a Harley before integration?  We bring our own inability to improve ourselves with a racist profiling set of eyes that hampers our MC’s from being legit. Again, being legit means getting sanctioned by the dominant 1% group of your bottom rocker. If you’re serious about being a biker then you see life through a bikers eyes in everything you do and say and that includes the people you call your brother.

If you see someone on a motorcycle as a cracker, nigger, spic or slope then what you are is a racist bastard and not a biker at all.

Stay Sucka MC Free, y'all

Preacha 

*The primary focal point of racism discussed in this blog is black bikers towards white bikers but please make note it goes both ways. I've discussed white racism in the biker community in a previous blog and what I've concluded in both blogs is that racism is stupidity unfortunately crosses racial lines all too frequently. 

**Years ago when I had planned on starting my own club, I was intent on not only going to the dominant 1 Percent club who happened to be white but also the African American club that had been the longest riding MC in the NY circuit. I wanted to make sure I had "both" sides of the track covered. I highly recommend new bike clubs to follow that pattern to ensure they are being respectful to all the Biker Lords who should be given that respect.