Preacher Chuck D.
Since last we spoke…
Published in New York Rider Magazine
The state of Maine is pushing forward on noise ordinances and inspection stickers, New Hampshire put a helmet law on the table, but was quashed, Nebraska tried to repeal their helmet law, but was shot down, in Florida patch holders were refused admittance to a state fairgrounds, Michigan State University developed a tattoo matching technology to attempt to identify and group together individuals who share like ink, one national one percent club has been all over the news wire regarding a sweep of arrests in the club, while another national one percent club got busted for doing something as simple and common as pulling a member’s patch!
These are just some examples of what is going on right now. Do you still thinks it’s ok just to sit back and watch? Do you think such issues will never happen to you?
As I sit here banging away on the keyboard, re-reading and re-reading these and other events, my blood begins to boil… again. Now, hopefully I have garnered your attention with the list of bullshit that is happening out there right now. For the purposes of this article, I am going focus on the one the gets me fired up the most, and hopefully will help those in the club scene understand the potential ramifications of this case and how it may impact how they currently do business. Let’s talk about the one percent club from Knoxville, TN that got raided because they pulled a members patch. I am not going to mention the club name in this article, because for the purposes of this discussion, it does not matter which club this happened to. I don't care what club you are in or you support, this is straight up bullshit.
On New Years Eve, a S.W.A.T. team raided the clubhouse and charged two members with, essentially, armed robbery, and a few others who happened to be in the clubhouse that night with minor drug possession that was found as a result of the raid. In the process, the authorities involved destroyed the inside of that clubhouse. The initial bail for the two members of the club charged with armed robbery was set in the range of millions of dollars. Now it has since been reduced, however, the fact remains that this is a form of economic warfare being waged against motorcycle clubs. High bails, destroyed property, and a less than expedited trial are all attempts to financially destroy motorcycle clubs and their families. We are not even going to touch on trumped up charges, which is another issue altogether.
Let’s look at how this all came to be, and how it could have been avoided, or not. Thanks to articles by LJ, Hank and others, most readers of this magazine should understand the concept of prospecting. In this particular case a prospect of this club completed his right of passage, and was granted a patch. He was now a full patch member. This new full patch member fell upon hard times and was actively seeking work. The problem is, he actively sought new employment with a law enforcement agency. Not only did he seek employment with a law enforcement agency, but this individual openly professed his membership in this motorcycle club in an effort boost his opportunity to gain employment with this law enforcement organization as an undercover agent of sorts. I am going to stop this paragraph here before I launch into a tirade of rhetoric about what I think of this individual’s character.
Let’s continue. After approximately six months of “undercover work”, and apparently no substantial leads, this individual had run afoul of the club, and the club now demanded his patch. This recovering of the patch by the club was used as the sole reason for the raid that occurred on New Years Eve. Let me state that again, the club stripped this member of his patch, and that act of taking back a former member’s patch was used as the impetus for the warrant to execute the raid!
Authorities called this armed robbery of one of their undercover agents.
Unless this particular charter of this particular club operates different than any other club of which I am aware, the patch is not the property of the individual, but rather is the property of the motorcycle club. The authorities know this. They lied in the papers. They lied to the judge. There was no crime committed here. However, by managing the message to the public, a crime was created and substantiated.
This issue is far from over. Frankly, once this particular case is over, it still won’t be over. There is a potential precedence here that could be very dangerous. In this world of tattle tails and cell phone cameras the world that actual men of honor live in, is becoming smaller and smaller.
This battle is not over. At this point, I am not asking anyone to “enlist” in the war so to speak. All I ask is that you acknowledge that there is a war going on… and vigilance is needed.
Peace & Motorcycle Grease,
