Suit Charges Bias at Rally for Black BikersBy JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
WASHINGTON, May 20 � A group of black motorcycle riders filed suit today against the city of Myrtle Beach, S.C., and various businesses, accusing them of discrimination during Black Bike Week, the biggest African-American biker rally in the country.
Plaintiffs say the event, held in South Carolina each Memorial Day weekend, has been marred by excessive police force, intrusive traffic laws and a hostility that flows from the shell-encrusted fringes of the Atlantic Ocean to the doors of the local Denny's.
"I've seen it myself," said Craig Williams, a Baltimore police detective who is a rider. "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."
… The predominantly white bike week, which has been going on for 63 years, is called Harley-Davidson Week and finished up last weekend. The mostly black event, called the Atlantic Beach Bike Fest, or Black Bike Week, starts on Thursday
… The city's response: they are different.
"Black Bike Week is rowdier, younger and much more crowded," said Mayor Mark McBride of Myrtle Beach.
City officials say Black Bike Week is nearly twice the size of Harley Week (375,000 people compared with 200,000 last year). That is why, they say, they change the streets to a one-way system and employ 550 police officers, compared with 300 for Harley Week.
"You need more cops for more people," said the police chief, Warren Gall.
Another difference between the two events, city officials said, is that Harley Week revolves more around concerts and contests, while Black Bike Week is all about cruising.
"It's guys looking for girls looking for guys," Chief Gall said.
… That does not mean much to Washica Little, a plaintiff in the case. At the news conference, Mrs. Little said the police had humiliated her in front of her children.
"I'm sick of getting categorized as someone I'm not, " said Mrs. Little, a real estate broker from Greenville, S.C. Mrs. Little does not even ride a motorcycle. She drives a Mercedes.
And that is just it, say the plaintiffs, which include a South Carolina chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Black Bike Week may have begun around 20 years ago as a small gathering of motorcycle enthusiasts in the predominantly all-black community of Atlantic Beach, just up the coast. But now it is a major African-American event, not bound to bikes. Some people describe it as "Black Fill-in-the-Blank Week," a time to listen to music or go to the beach or meet singles or just relax at a resort that one weekend a year is packed with African-Americans.
Despite the large draw on Memorial Day weekend, or perhaps because of it, many businesses close. In a state human rights complaint filed today, the plaintiffs named 28 Myrtle Beach restaurants that they said shut their doors last year or cut back on hours, including Red Lobster and Denny's.
