OFF THE WIRE
The NAACP has filed a law suit against summer hot spot Myrtle Beach for its alleged pattern of discrimination against black bikers. Citing the fact that many popular businesses close during Black Bike Week, but happily serve the mostly white Harley Davidson Spring Bike Rally crowd, the civil rights group is leading a class action against the locale. Courthouse News Service reports:
Hotels, motels and restaurants in the Myrtle Beach area have discriminated against African-Americans for years by refusing to open during Black Bike Week, the NAACP charges in a pair of federal lawsuits.
The civil rights group contrasts the behavior of defendants Molly Darcy’s on the Beach, a restaurant and bar, and the American Pancake and Omelet House, with their business practices during the annual Harley Davidson Spring Bike Rally, which is attended almost exclusively by white bikers.
Black Bike Week is the only time of year when most of the tourists visiting the popular beachfront destination are nonwhite, according to the NAACP.
“For the past few years, Molly Darcy’s on the Beach has refused to serve visitors of Black Bike Week by closing during its otherwise customary business hours,” the complaint states. The same is allegedly true of the American Pancake and Omelet House. [...]
Compounding the organization’s anger is that fights and skirmishes – including an armed confrontation between Myrtle Beach police and white biker gangs – have occurred during the Harley Week event, but not during Black Bike Week, yet businesses continue to cater to white bikers and refuse to serve black ones.
http://newsone.com/nation/astodghill/naacp-sues-myrtle-beach-for-discriminating-against-black-bike-week/
