Top Ten Rag Violations

How important is fashion? When Michelle Obama wears an outfit that shows off her arms, the Conservative Right accuses her of being inappropriate while the liberal left go out and buy droves of whatever she was wearing to the point of putting that designer on the map. National magazines dedicate complete issues to fashion faux pax's.Style and E! Entertainment devote entire broadcast segments to break down the clothes celebrities wore, wear and shouldn't be wearing. The point is, fashion is very important and not just that, but doing fashion correctly is extremely paramount.

 The importance of fashion carries over to the MC world and like anything that is cemented in history, tradition and culture, there are protocols when it comes to fashion. The fashion we're obviously speaking about are the fashion of rags (cuts, vests, jackets-I will refer to them as rags as that's how me and my kind do). There are general fashion rules that could get you excluded from the major social affairs in NYC and LA like wearing white after Labor Day, a man's shoes not matching the color of his belt and the jury is still out on wearing dress shoes with no socks. Some people who want to rebel against "the rules" say the ones who enforce the rules so adamantly are slaves to tradition, or in this case a slave to fashion.

To them I'd say, we're all slaves. You just gotta know how pick your own plantation.

Make no mistake, the MC world is a plantation. You have a bunch house slaves (The weekend riders who ride to the bar and never ever during the rain) who don't understand why those niggers outside (bikers who actually put real work time on their bikes, their MC and the MC community) are fighting amongst themselves. "Y'all should just be happy to be riding. Who cares what your rags look like? Why do you care if that club is following tradition? Why do you care 'bout their rags and what their rags say?"- Those are those house slaves asking those dumb questions. We're gonna ignore them. And then you have those field niggers (Sucka MC's) who are actually out there working the field and puttin' in their time on two's but don't know shit about the MC culture. They're just happy to say they're MC and go to the parties. Those field niggers keep shaking their heads at the troublesome runaway slaves (Outlaws) who insist on not following Massah's rules. They're the ones (and I'm gonna quote Nas here) who keep talking that "crazy ass back to Africa" shit.  The early slaves were the hardest to get in line. The real hardasses were probably killed or thrown overboard during the Middle Passage but the ones who made it here and maintained a passion for their traditions and their culture refused to assimilate. They were Outlaws.

You see how certain things never change?

Again, I'm NOT saying everything Outlaws do is right or that their lifestyle is for everyone 'cause God knows I'd be reckless to even suggest that but the most revered Outlaws in history and in this MC thing are characters who while being different, have very similar traits. They are ferociously protective of their way of life and principles and they all have a code of honor that is more important to them then the air they breathe. That's something to aspire to, not shun but more people shun the way of the Outlaw because it means having to live up to your word and the consequences if you don't.

 Maybe when it comes to rag violators, we should keep this top ten list close and start giving people tickets by taking their picture and publishing it online. Now, that's not a bad idea at all. Until then, here are some of the top ten rag violations we could think of and the rules and regulations when it comes to each one.   


10- Reverse Rags in Photos
I was at an MC party last year and I asked a group of guys if they'd mind if I could take a picture of their rags. To my surprise they all turned around. Not one of them took their rags off and put it on their chest like so many clubs do when taking pictures. After I took the picture I made it a point of shaking each one of their hands and mentioned specifically how impressed I was that they knew protocol. How many times have you gone to an MC's Facebook page and you see a group shot of the team with their rags on their chest lookin' like a straight jacket. Let's make it clear for everyone out there reading this, your flag  (meaning your MC's symbol) BELONG on your back. They go no where else, ever. There are NO exceptions. When's the last time LeBron James took off his Jersey in a picture and turned it around?  Does the priest take off his tunic to make you more comfortable? It's who he is. You will respect who he is and how he does his thing. MC's should have that same respectful arrogance about their own flag. Taking your rags off to make it "better" for a picture by rocking it on your chest is considered in most traditional clubs as a major violation.

"When I see a club do that I know they don't know shit 'bout shit. If you don't even know not to wear your rags the wrong way, then what else do you  not know?" - Quote from OMC biker

 9-Multi-Color Rags
This one is very easy. Rags are supposed to be one of two colors; black or denim with an exception to brown here and there but that's rare. The blue, pink, white, multi-colored rags are not standard or accepted colors for rags. I understand especially with African American and Latina riders who want to color coordinate every got-damn thing and they have these multi-colored rags to accentuate an outfit. You're going about it the wrong way. You build around your rags, not the other way around and your rags are black or denim, period. It's as jarring and visually assaulting as when certain restaraunts serve green colored meat patties on St. Patrick's Day. It might taste the same, but that shit is green.We may all ride bikes but your rags are...(pause)...blue. Think of your rags as your uniform and before you, thousands of people wore the time honored tradition of MC rags. They didn't come down the highway lookin' like an angry collection of Rainbow Brite doll collectors. They came down the highway looking like bikers. If you join the military and green ain't your color (or white if you're Navy and so on) you don't go to your commanding officer and say, "Have you ever considered purple?" That uniform that you're wearing has been honored and blessed with blood, sweat and tears of millions of people before you. Your rags have as well. When bikers go to a party and someone takes a picture of all us together, do we want to look like a bunch of hardened love-to-ride fuckers or a bag of M&M's?

" I went to a party the other day and it looked like the god-damn rainbow coalition."-Quote from TX biker

8-Decorative Rags
Do you remember leg warmers? Some of us are old enough to remember them. How 'bout shoulder pad blazers? Wait, how 'bout this one...mom jeans? Do you notice the common trend in all those things? For one, all those trends are for women and secondly, they were all amazingly tacky and abhorrent fashion mistakes. Bedazzling rags is not only a fashion mistake on the level of unbridled magnitude but it's something that's most definitely feminine. Let me translate and please say this with me. Men don't wear leg warmers. Men don't bedazzle rags. Men don't wear thongs. Men don't bedazzle rags. (you see where I'm going with this).  Men don't wear high heels. Men don't bedazzle rags. Rags are a masculine piece of MC couture and they are not meant to be bedazzled. Would you put pink bowstrings on brass knuckles? Bedazzling your rags leads to other abominations such as glow in the dark rags. These things are some of the most desperate for attention, insecure acts an MC or biker can do. I've even seen mini TV monitors on rags. I don't make this shit up. You need to respect not just your rags, but the traditions from which rag "fashion" comes from. In most OMC's, a clean rag reeks of an undercover cop 'cause any real biker has rags that has some considerable wear and tear on them. Your rags should look like it's been through hell...and stayed there for a while. In other words, if you're a real biker you actually ride your bike and your rags would reflect that. If I met a rider with a TV monitor on his rags my first impression would be, "Luke, I am your father." Part of the reason why rags are kept simple is because the symbolism behind your club should speak volumes. You don't have to explain what your club symbol means but members within the club should know how important it is and nothing should distract or disrespect that logo. Of course if your club logo doesn't mean jack then maybe you might want to bedazzle your rags and plug in TV monitors and do glow in the dark things but that's up to you to decide and make the final call...or in this case, change that channel.

"To each their own but my thing is this, even if the circuit would give a pass for women to put gems on their rags, explain to me why the fuck a man would take the time to bedazzle his shit? That's just gay."- Quote from Club President

7-Rags in the Car
Your rags are meant to be flown like a flag. However, you've got to be smart in flying that flag. As an American I don't really recommend wearing your Captain America Halloween outfit to too many bar crawls in Palestine. It just wouldn't be a good idea but if you're in Palestine and that's your only outfit, I'd recommend that you turn it inside out and watch yo' ass. If for whatever reason you're getting into a car with your rags on, the standard protocol is for you to turn your rags inside out. You're not disrespecting your rags or your MC by doing that. In fact, you're showing them the most respect by 1-never allowing the flag of your club to be on anything BUT your back and 2-you're not allowing that flag to be tarnished by touching the inside of a cage. And while this applies more so to Outlaws (real Outaws; not you three patch wearing RC's)
cops have been known to drive by cars with bikers inside and once they notice the diamond or the club, the sirens tend to come on. Whether you're doing dirt or not, a stop by the cops is as fun as a Rikers Island involuntary prostate examination so just avoid the situation and keep your rags inside out if you're in a cage.

"Would you wear a helmet to get in your car to go get groceries? I guess if you were a retarded mutha-fucka you would but most people ain't doin' that."-AL biker 

6-Passenger & Rags
I know what basic logic says. If you have a passenger your rags won't be flying so what you do is allow your passenger to temporarily wear your rags for the duration of the trip. If you truly earned your rags through sweat, unprecedented effort and sometimes tears, why in the would would you even entertain the thought of someone else wearing your rags? Would you allow someone to wear your wedding band just 'cause "they wanted to see what it's like"? Of course you wouldn't. Aren't you married to your MC? Aren't you committed to your MC and the brothers in it? If the answer is yes then the answer is no for allowing anyone else to wear your rags in any circumstance. For the record, if you did allow someone to wear your rags and someone in your club saw, you should be getting a hefty fine because those rags represent a sacred brotherhood and that person you lent your rags to are NOT part of that brotherhood.Think of your rags as your woman's vagina. You had to really work to earn your woman's vagina and allows you the access you've entitled. After earning that access, would you share that vagina with anyone? More then likely the answer is no. Think of your rags as your vagina. It's yours. All yours...now, what your girlfriend thinks and does with her vagina is a blog topic for a whole different day...


"I don't know when people started handing out rags to girlfriends, wives and mistresses but every hang-a-long now has rags. That just tells me that particular club doesn't value their rags if they're handing them out like free condoms at the corner store clinic." - DE biker

5-Rags in Public
Your rags are like your balls; if someone's going to take them from you they're gonna have to be surgically removed from your body. You earned those rags and now you've gotten them and now you think it's a good idea to go somewhere and place them down? This is one of the rare instances in biker ettiquette where even another biker from another MC can pick up your rags and present them to your President. If you have a real President he'd fine his own member to get his own rags back. By placing your rags on the back of a chair, on the bars of your bike, etc. ANYWHERE besides your back you are disrespecting your club and your club colors. Do you know the kind of scorn an institution, private and public can incur if the American flag is ever seen touching the ground? Did you know in the Civil War the flag bearers only job was to carry the flag of his soldiers as bullets, cannon balls and swords soowshed by them? And not if, but when that idiot was killed, there was a second flag bearer who was to stand in his place. I've read that this position was considered to be so coveted that during battles when the bearers went down, soldiers would pick up the flag and carry on. While we all may think that ridiculous, it does demonstrate an uncanny amount of pride in their flag and what it represented. They were happy to die for their flag. Are you you willing not to lay down for yours? I know an Outlaw personally who gets off his motorcycle, walks into his house, locks the door behind him, goes in the basement, moves stuff around to get to his safe and places his rags in a locked safe. The only other thing he has in there are two guns and his birth certificate. He's the only one who knows the combination. When I asked him was that necessary he said to me, "Do you know how much the other clubs offer for our patch, dude?" That's how serious rags can be in this community. This rule is by far the easiest one of all them because it's the easiest not to violate. If you're wearing your rags and you go out, do not ever take them off in public. That's it.That simple. That basic. In fact, I'll say it again in my Karate Kid Mr. Miagi accent: "Rag on. Rag no off."

"When my mother got sick of me losing my shit as a kid she just started throwing my shit away. Tell you what-- I stopped losing shit after she started doing that" - IL biker


4-AC/MC/MMC
At first this one used to get on my nerves the way fat kids do who are in front of me in line at McDonalds. If you have on a vest and you have more then one designation, you essentially are watering down each aspect of the clubs or associations you're trying to rep because not only are you showing a fantastic ignorance of protocol, but you're telling everyone that you have an identity crisis. Yes. You're practically screaming that you are a crazy bitch. We're going to pretend that in our world it's okay for someone outside of an MC to wear rags. (It's not). I did say this used to get on my nerves which obviously means it doesn't move me to anger so much anymore and that's not to say it doesn't still irk me, but may people suffer from this issue. The issue by the way is brand identity. You have no idea who you are and by trying to be everything to everyone you're left with nothing. You're no one. Burger King suffered from this problem. They came out with these wonderfully hysterical ads with the Burger King character and they even started selling video games. People loved it. Funny thing is, their food sales slipped during this time and the reason they did is because BK was trying to be all things to all people instead of just being a fast food chain who served good enough food. They were having an identity crisis..much like the people who wear multiple Club association on their rags.  If you have a truck division, car division or whatever else, then traditionally they should have varsity sweaters or some other form of fashion identification. Club orgies on the back of rags is as good taste as inviting R. Kelly to your sisters sweet sixteen. It's in poor taste, it's inappropriate and it's downright stupid.

"If you saw a cop on the street and his uniform had him as NYPD and NYFD what would you do? You'd leave that mutha fucka alone and go find you a real cop or fireman is exactly what the fuck you'd do." NY biker 

3-Rags Out
One of the most popular blogs we've ever done is called MC Divorce: Leaving the Sucka's Behind and that was about leaving your MC and obviously a big part of that discussion was vest surrender. Leaving a club is bitter business without the added humble experience of surrendering a cut. If you're leaving the club on good terms it makes the surrender considerably easier but no one leaves a club on good terms. Either you were unhappy with them or they were unhappy with you and like a marriage five years past the point where the couple should've gotten divorced, people have bitter feelings that could spark into a forest fire of rage and fury with one wrong (or right) word. So if the point is to avoid a volcanic explosion of feelings there are a few things you can do. First is, just give up the vest and move on with your life. If you're not happy with the club and they're not happy with you, why hold onto it? Let it go. Second, refer to the bylaws and if you're entitled to something back for that vest then make it clear that's what you'd like back and once that's met you'll give up the vest. And third, if neither of those things can be settled amicably, do what you gotta do to either avoid doing what you gotta or to avoid getting caught doing whatever it is you feel you gotta do  (please feel free to read in between those lines). Bottom line, if you're no longer repping that club, then you have no business holding onto their colors, posting "old" pics or doing anything club related.
 

"Protocol would be to turn over your rags and make sure that your dues are caught up and that you are leaving on good turns from you current club" Outlaw biker, Indiana

2-Rags In
You ever go to an MC party and you look at peoples rags and you're like, "You really put that whack shit on yo' back?" Who hasn't? Before you prospect for a club and you're a hang-a-around, it may sound shallow but really take a look at a clubs back piece and think, "Do I really want to represent this flag?" It's not like you were born in Brooklyn and then at the age of sixteen decided you like the Japanese flag better and you wanna fly that. You ain't gotta a choice there. But in making an MC move, one of the things you have to consider is whether or not the flag, what it represents and the rags in general are something you could and would and will wear proudly. I know people who refuse to wear any rags that have any representation of death in them. Others don't like urban spellings or motifs and my personal favorite, anything from the movie Scarface gets a big no, no from me. (just 'cause I'm like, "Were you mutha fucka's THAT lazy?"). From an MC perspective this is going to be an eye opener for a few people because bylaws have become corroded of late with the wrong information concerning this. New members should never PAY to be in your club. New members should never PAY for their rags. From the moment a hang a long becomes a prospect they pay for the privlege of prospecting and they pay the dues accordingly. On the day they patch in, they should be presented with their rags and full flag without them having to pay any additional dollars because the fees should have already gone to cover that. I know too many clubs that double tax new members by making them pay for the last passage rite into the club. You don't want people feeling like they just bought into a corporation. They should feel as if they were accepted into a family. That's what brotherhood is about. You don't want to welcome a new member into your club by stealing money out their pocket on day one.

 "Then express interest with the new club that you would like to become a part of. Hang around, get to know the bros, then prospect if you think that the club is a good fit for you, then once the new club feels that you are ready they will patch you in. Make sure during your hang around time that the club you are wanting to join is gonna be the club that you see yourself retiring from. The hang around and prospecting stage could take over a year. If it's something that you really want, you will wait until the time is right." Outlaw biker, Indiana

1-Rag Approval
Nothing above means a thing if your rags haven't been approved by your dominant club. In other words, if you just got done watching Scarface and you took your hands out your pants long enough to design a patch, you just can't walk over, have it done up, pass it around to you and your friends and say you're a club. They couldn't even do that in Biker Boyz. You have to get your colors, your patch, your club approved by the dominant and until that happens you're an unsanctioned pop-up club ignoring one of the most important MC rules of all: respecting your dominant.  There's an old wives tale about a club who started their MC and thought they were safe from the dominant 'cause they rode sport bikes. Well, one day that dominant pulled up on them...in a supermarket nonetheless and demanded an audience. It was all worked out but who wants to have their melon squeezing disrupted by a bunch of unhappy bikers? That same old wife told me a story about how a certain new cruiser club just flat out said they weren't going to the dominant 'cause they had no business dealing with "those type of people." I'm not sure what that meant but "those type of people" showed up at mr. new club man's place of business with pictures of his kids getting on and off the school bus, his wife buying groceries (maybe at the same super market as above) and needless to say, it took that club a whole lot longer to get their colors approved.  To belabor the point, just get your damn rags approved. It'll save you a whole lot of heartburn and it won't make you a wives tale of supermarket melon squeezing gone wrong.

"If Jesus came out the sky and wanted to open up a candy store, He couldn't just open that shit up. He'd have to get building permits, pay for inspectors and get licenses. All we're saying is see your local dominant. You'll have a permit for life." Outlaw Biker, TN

I sincerely hope that after reading this top ten you take a look at your own rags and consider what you're doing when you're rocking them...and when you're not. There is a lot of responsibility in rocking rags and it's better to understand what's expected of you, and what others looking at you and your team, expect of all of you in general. Yes, you can say, "We don't give a fuck" but there are plenty of people in this MC thing who do and they will treat you according to how you respect (or don't respect) traditional MC protocols and values and that starts with how you rock your rags.

Don't ridicule yourself by coming into a room lookin' like some Iron Man villain with a glow in the dark cut. Don't embarrass your host MC by pulling up to a bar wearing a sixteen year old girl's bedazzled vest. Unless your TV monitor is showing porn, no one wants to watch your stupid screen monitor cut and for the love of good, you're either an MC or nothing. Don't have club orgies on your rags.

I can't make you a biker simply by reading this blog but at least gotdamnit I can help you look the part.

My name is Preacha and I am a fashion consultant who is very good at knocking sucka's right the fuck out. Thanks for reading.