everybody loves Myrtle Bike Week you get to show off all the work you got done on
your motorcycle whether it's a Harley Davidson doesn't matter what kind of bike Indian sport
bike everybody's out there to have a good time everybody's out there to show off the new thing
that they got on their bike whether it's a painless fresh paint job rims whatever it
may be some of the most beautiful women you ever see you there but there's a dark story
of division the story of two separated weeks that even the love of motorcycles cannot overcome today
we tell the dark story the dark history that continues to live on to this day Myrtle bike
week and black bike week on this episode a demons Row TV and oh yeah we ghostin baby
welcome to Demons Row
TV the Holy Grail of MC culture where we cover everything motorcycle and Motorcycle
Club involved I'm sose the ghost I'm your host for the evening and today we're going to break
down the complete history of Myrtle Beach bike week and we're also going to tell the dark story
of how this continues on in our culture till this day so smash that like button and hit
that subscribe button if you want to learn more about this motorcycle culture and let's break
down this history in 1938 Myrtle Beach officially becomes a town the rally would soon follow in 1940
the first Harley-Davidson bike week is held in Myrtle Beach in 1996 suck bang blow opens up his
doors for bikers quickly becoming a staple in the biker community and a Sen a piece for the rally
in 1999 Harley Davidson opens his first store in Myrtle Beach much to the Delight of bikers in 2001
Harley Davidson opens a second store in North Myrtle Beach shortly after seeing the success
of the first these two stores now serve as major points of interest during the week in 2008 the
city of Myrtle Beach enacts a mandatory helmet ordinance which was met by derision and scorned
from the biker Community lawsuits were filed rallies within City Limits were either avoided
or moved the locations outside the actual city of Myrtle Beach rides were rerouted out of the
city in 2010 the South Carolina Supreme Court strikes down Myrtle Beach's mandatory helmet
ordinance citing State Supremacy in 2013 Myrtle Beach Speedway opens to bikers during the rallies
allowing bikers to ride their motorcycle Cycles on the track so let's get into the story that never
really gets told and needs to be told about this Bike Week black bike week also called Atlantic
Beach bike fest bike week and black bikers week is an annual motorcycle rally at Myrtle Beach South
Carolina events include motorcycle racing concerts parties and street festivals attendance has been
variously reported at 350 000 to 375 000 and as high as four hundred thousand it is considered the
third or fourth largest motorcycle rally in the United States from 1940 until 2008 Myrtle Beach
also hosted a predominantly white motorcycle rally called Harley Davidson week also called the Spring
Carolina Harley-Davidson Dealers Association rally the two rallies have run back to back
in the past and some have charged city government and local businesses of race racial discrimination
because of different treatment towards the black rally citing different traffic rules and levels
of policing in 2002 Black Bike Week had 375 000 attendees versus 200 000 for Harley-Davidson week
of the same year during the 1960s and 70s many black motorcyclists visited Atlanta Beach South
Carolina some riding Harley-Davidsons but also riding many Japanese Hondas Kawasakis Suzuki's
and Yamahas which along with race distinguished them as Riders from the white events participants
who preferred the Harley Davidsons during the segregation era Atlantic Beach was the only
beach in the South where blacks were permitted the Black Bike Week rally originally called the
Atlantic Beach Memorial Day bike fest was founded in the Atlantic Beach by The Flaming Night Riders
Motorcycle Club in 1980 the first rally Drew about 100 participants though one reason the Flaming
Night Riders work with the city of Atlantic Beach to create the event was to make money for the town
it was not actually franchised by Atlantic Beach and the city did not benefit financially instead
bikers would over the years congregate more and more in Myrtle Beach rather than Atlantic Beach
in 1982 the Flaming Night Riders were renamed the Carolina Night Riders Motorcycle Club by the
1990s the event had grown to include the entire greater Myrtle Beach or Grand Strand area in 2002
Atlantic Beach hired a public relations firm to make the rest of the country aware of the
Atlantic Beach its uniqueness has a predominantly black Beach town and its potential as a vacation
spot this was part of a larger effort to promote the motorcycle rally but a bike week task force a
group of business owners and public officials from around the Grand Strand area in 2003 a group of
black motorcyclists in the South Carolina chapter of the National Association of the advancement of
colored people sued the city of Myrtle Beach and some businesses for their discrimination the city
was accused of abusing traffic law enforcement and of excessive force by the police to harass
black bikers many businesses closed their doors or cut back their hours during black bike week and
28 of them including Red Lobster and Denny's were named in the suit gotta remember these names when
you're out eating and supporting Maryland police detective who was also a motorcyclist told the New
York Times I've seen it myself when the white bikers come to Myrtle Beach the town rolls out
the red carpet when the Black Riders come they roll it right up City officials said that the
much younger crowd and nearly double attendance of Black Bike Week Justified the difference in
the city's response to the two events pattern of black social and party events grew even larger
in stature and then having the cops come down hardcore particularly in the Southern United
States has occurred before war with Freaknik in Atlanta Georgia spring break in Biloxi Mississippi
and various festivals in New Orleans Louisiana and Virginia Beach Virginia Myrtle Beach mayor
Mark McBride said in 2003 that the Black Bike Week Crowds Are bigger and rowdier although
that year the white Harley rally saw eight motorcycle traffic deaths but a black rally
had only three killed in accidents in 2006 the NAACP claimed success in concluding every Federal
discrimination lawsuit they filed against Myrtle Beach for complaints during Bike Week events from
1999 to 2003 against the city of Myrtle Beach and restaurants that included Damon's Oceanfront
and Barefoot Landing J Edwards great ribs and Greg Norman's Australian Grill as well as the yachtsman
resort hotel in a settlement with the city the police department was required to use the same
traffic pattern on the city's Main Boulevard for black bike week as they did for Harley bike week
notice the the verb is there Harley bike week and black bike week from 2005 through 2008 the NAACP
carried out operation Bike Week Justice in which a complaint hotline was operated and teams monitored
police treatment of African Americans and the reaction of local businesses as well as monitoring
traffic patterns the yachtsman resort hotel have required Black Bike Week guests to sign a 34 rule
guest contract prepay for their hotel bill and show photo id the NAACP won 1.2 million dollars
in the settlement in addition to the monetary payment the hotel agreed the future discounts and
the Mandate for policy changes including yearly anti-discrimination training for employees in 2008
the Myrtle Beach city council announced it would no longer host motorcycle rallies and approved
a set of ordinances on September 23rd 2008 that attempted to make Black Bike Week impossible 50
teen laws were passed restricting Muffler noise requiring helmets within City Limits limiting
parking to two bikes per space restricting loitering and parking lots and More in spite
of this black bike weeks 2009's attendance was only reduced slightly to 250 000 for the 2010
bike rally the NAACP continued to monitor police and local businesses for discrimination the state
supreme court had heard arguments on February 3rd 2010 in a lawsuit by the two groups of plaintiffs
seemed to overturn the Ordinance one group of plaintiffs was made up of 49 motorcyclists who
have been cited for not wearing helmets in Myrtle Beach the second plaintiff was the organization
business owners organized to save tourism along with the South Carolina state representative dad
veers his mission included ending the practice of selective tourism whereby government entities and
or organizations welcomed some individual Jewel include Taurus but not discourage others veers
a republican representing Myrtle Beach said that there's certain things cities can't do and make
up their own traffic laws is not one of them I believe the law and the Constitution are on
our side during the hearing of February Justice Don beatley said the Mike battle Myrtle Beach's
lawyer that I realized the issue is narrow here but don't pretend like we don't know what's going
on we read we all know why the city passed the ordinances question whether the intent or the
law was not to promote safety but rather The Curtain Call motorcycle rallies on June 8 2010
the South Carolina Supreme Court overturned the Myrtle Beach city ordinance requiring all
motorcyclists to wear helmets on the grounds that the state law requiring helmets only for
Riders under age 21 cannot be preempted by city ordinance the Court ruled unanimously that in
addition to the priority of state law the local ordinance create undue confusion for motorists and
that the city itself had invalidated their helmet ordinance and some other ordinances also passed a
suppressed motorcycle rallies in a subsequent Amendment the ruling took effect immediately
requiring that the pending citations be dismissed the records of those cited under the ordinance be
expunged and all fines collected be returned so when that happened in 2011 motorcycle rally
participants immediately booked rooms for the next year and party promoters immediately started
advertising shows and events but to this day both bike weeks are separated still so tell me what you
think about this in the comments and I know this country has a history and every day we work to
get better at some of the things from the past and Harley-Davidson has a very dark pass to not
selling motorcycles the blacks back in the days the way they treat motorcycle clubs where they
have never really endorsed any MCS they always just endorse this weird image what is not truly
rep presentation of the people that ride Harley Davidsons from day to day but knowing this history
it's better for us to know why these things are the way they are so we can move past it and try
to do better in the future let me know in the comments how you feel about this whole situation
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