A couple of weeks ago, I spent the night in Surfside Beach after attending the Galivants Ferry Stump Speaking. As I was leaving the next morning, I stopped for coffee on the way off the Strand to Tweet this:
Is this Biker Week on the Grand Strand? I hope so. If not, just FYI, the Visigoths are back…
— Brad Warthen (@BradWarthen) May 13, 2014
Obviously, bikers were much in evidence up and down Highway 17. I sort of had those bikers in mind (you know, ones who look, ethnically, like they could be Visigoths) when I read earlier this week about all the violence on the Strand, which was being reported in the context of Atlantic Beach Bikefest.
But today, it dawned on me that we’re talking about black biker week rather than white biker week. It didn’t hit me until I read that Nikki Haley was adding her voice to the calls to end the event, and it was evident that the one obvious pocket of resistance to such a ban was coming from the administration of Atlantic Beach Mayor Jake Evans.
The tone of this had a certain flavor to it, and I found myself suspecting that the folks wanting to end this event were white, and the defensive-sounding mayor was black. And not just because of Atlantic Beach’s long history as the “black beach” on the Grand Strand.
Yup. At least, I was right about the mayor. I haven’t seen pictures of all of the folks on the other side.
(People following this on television probably realized this way before I did. The one news story I had read told me nothing about potential racial sensitivities, aside from the mention, way down — the 11th graf — of Atlantic Beach. Sometimes the Victorian Gent, as Tom Wolfe has called the press, is just entirely too discreet to give us a hint what’s going on.)
Now that I know this, I tend to read some of the things I’d read earlier in a somewhat different light. Such as the statement by Rep. Tracy Edge that it was time to “take back the streets and make the Grand Strand safer for residents, business owners and visitors.”
Up to the point of my belated epiphany, I had been inclined to agree — ban the bikers. Now, I’d like to know more. Are the people wanting to end this event eager to end the invasion by white bikers as well? If not, are there clear data indicating that there’s less violence and other crime associated with the white influx than the black one?
Perhaps so; I just don’t know. I think a good start for getting to the bottom of this would be an up-front admission by everyone that this issue is complicated by the great cognitive divide between black and white in our state and nation. Assuming that that’s the case. And it’s looking to me as though it is.
wistv.com – Columbia, South Carolina |
Related Posts
Where do y’all go on Friday afternoons? I’ve got the beginnings of a lively discussion going on about this over on Facebook, but on the blog, zilch…
There’s something about Fridays in the blogosphere…
On Facebook? I am a friend there. Did not see this….
I believe it is a racially charged issue based on what I have read over the years in The State, back before Ron Morris stories covered two thirds of the front page, but also bikers are a nuisance and deter other visitors, but black bikers don’t, supposedly, spend enough to offset the loss.
When to Charleston and back for a hearing. Then went though all the messages the accumulated while I was gone. I just saw that Jay Carney is also resigning, effective next month. I guess we’ll have someone else up there to provide the public with exactly zero information.
And that’s not a partisan attack. The press secretary for everyone (Republican and Democrat) seems to mainly be to NOT answer questions while saying things. If you really want to get information, the Press Secretary isn’t who you talk to.
You seen Lyman pinch hit for CJ yet? One of the funniest parts of the whole series.
While it is a racially charged situation, I think a key part of the issue is the difference in numbers between the two weeks. Black bike week has far more people crammed into a relatively small area. Both weeks have caused massive traffic snarls, so much so that some business just close down because it takes hours for their employees to get to work, and emergency vehicles have trouble getting through. Friends in the area have related stories of restaurants being so packed that entire groups get up and leave without paying and can’t be stopped. The noise is deafening. My friends stock up and stay home.
How do you stop bike week? My question is, if someone makes hotel reservations for Memorial Day Weekend at Atlantic Beach, can a hotel clerk ask if he drives a motorcycle and deny him a room reservation. Wouldn’t this be illegal?
I think you could “roll up the welcome mat” and do some nitpicking policing. Noise ordinances, loitering….
It might be a little tricky to decide which bikers can come to MB and which can’t. Black? White? Shouldn’t bikers be allowed to carry? Seems like SC wants everyone armed.
The very first time I went to MB for an educational/work gig, my wife and I saw a fatal car crash right in front of the restaurant on business 17. Speeding kids and old timers. Talk about violence. Who you gonna ban?
The main difference between the two bike weeks is the age of the participants.
The Harley bikers are older and riding expensive bikes and yes there are disturbances.
BBW is young adults, many not on bikes but in cars. Alcohol and youth don’t mix well
and there is more than just youthful exuberance going on. Crimes are being committed.
The success of BBW in attracting participants has choked the event. Too Many people in too small an area,
makes traffic control and law enforcement extremely difficult. The whole strand area is affected not just
Atlantic Beach. I don’t envy the leaders trying to iron this out when the immediate cries are racism.
It sounds like they have the same issue Five Points has on football weekend nights: too many people, not patronizing establishments, in too small a space, on public sidewalks and roadways. Not sure what can legally be done, besides nuisance policing.
The concept of “beach” confuses some people
http://m.clickorlando.com/news/high-tide-swamps-cars-at-florida-beach/26171738
We used to drive and park, along with everybody else, on Daytona Beach when we’d visit my gramma there in the sixties. Seemed a bit weird even to a five year old….
Maybe those people are from the Mediterranean, where the sea doesn’t behave quite that way…
Note that I’m really reaching to avoid calling these folks idiots. It’s probably more likely that a lot of these folks couldn’t find the Mediterranean on a map…
They are completely different crowds. have been in town for both several times.
As stated above- Harley week – many more older folks, meaning 35 and older- many with their wives or work buddies and their Harley’s. You do see people drive too fast and do some dumb things- and you see the bikini contests and bikes that are too loud in neighborhoods.
BBW is much more so an under 30 crowd- with many being an under 21 crowd- much more of a “let me see who I can hook up with event”
I’ve seen 300 lb women walking through Food Lion in thongs in the middle of the afternoon at BBW. You see a lot of drag racing at BBW. You see a lot of theft at BBW
I know one female MB resident that was threatened at this years BBW. She was walking her dog down to the beach one morning as she usually does and a BBW participant (and friends) told her she couldn’t use the public beach. Their words were ” this is our beach this week” and then the man pulled up his shirt to reveal a pistol stuck in his pants. ( this lady is retired- not a threat to anyone)
I’ve seen public sex acts ( and I don’t mean kissing and hugging) in the lobby of nice hotels at BBW.
It’s an eye opener and it needs to stop. The recent multiple deaths are yet another reason it needs to stop.
What Barry said! And to add a couple of other personal tidbits, try walking from the parking lot to a restaurant (won’t say which one) and navigating around or over piles of human excrement during BBW and then try to enjoy lunch. I was working in Socastee at the time and had no choice but to go into MB because of a business appointment. The crowd was rude, loud, crude, and definitely not dressed to hide parts of the anatomy that should not be exposed for public viewing. We had reservations for a private room and even in the private room, we could barely hear each other. Several crowds simply got up and left without paying according to the waiters and they couldn’t do one thing about it. After about 30 minutes, we paid for what we ordered and left without eating. The meeting was held in Murrell’s Inlet and no problems encountered. I haven’t been back to MB during BBW or Harley week since then and don’t intend to.
Racism or not, one rally is reasonably well behaved, the other is not.
At Black Biker Week human feces in parking lots and residential yards is pretty common- sadly.
Most people that have never worked down there that time of the year just don’t have a clue.
I’ve personally seen it- and MB city council heard about it a lot last week at their afternoon city council session that was aired lived on the internet ( I watched it)
Apart from these events, I’ve noticed something about white bikers. They tend to be old — like, older than I am.
Yesterday, I was driving with my son through the avenues in West Columbia, down a narrow residential street, and we passed a biker going the other way who HAD to be 90 years old. The oldest man I have ever seen on a motorcycle.
Then we passed a 60ish guy on another bike, and I remarked how young he looked by comparison. Then it hit me — the ranks of motorcyclists seem to be filled with people who were more or less young in the 1960s, and formed a lifelong impression at the time that motorcycles were cool, and never outgrew it.
I, too, thought motorcycles were so cool — mostly because of Steve McQueen in
The Great Escape,” to a much lesser extent because of “Then Came Bronson.” I was determined that I would never have a car; I just looked forward to having a cycle.
I outgrew it. Now, the idea of so unnecessarily putting myself in the way of traumatic head trauma is appalling. Like Woody Allen, my brain is my second favorite organ. At least…
I think the bikers who survive the donor cycle experience are the more prudent ones, on average.