page_title: Black Bike Week
section_title: Charges of racial bias
hierarchical_section_title: Black Bike Week / Charges of racial bias
caption_attribution_description: nice little bit of police harassment
context_page_description: Black Bike Week, also called Atlantic Beach Bikefest and Black Bikers Week, is an annual motorcycle rally in the Myrtle Beach, South Carolina area, held on Memorial Day weekend. It is also sometimes called Black Fill-in-the-Blank Week, because it has evolved to attract many non-motorcycling visitors who come for music, socializing and enjoying the beach. Events include motorcycle racing, concerts, parties, and street festivals. Called a "one-of-a-kind event" and "an exhibitionist's paradise" by Jeffrey Gettleman, Black Bike Week is "all about riding, styling and profiling," in the words of Mayor Irene Armstrong of Atlantic Beach, South Carolina.
  It is the largest African American motorcycle rally in the US. Attendance has been variously reported as 350,000, 375,000, and as high as 400,000. It is considered the third or fourth largest motorcycle rally in the United States. Around 10–15 percent of motorcyclists in the US are women, while at major African American motorcycle rallies, such as Black Bike Week or the National Bikers Roundup, women make up close to half of participants.
context_section_description: In 2003 a group of black motorcyclists, and the South Carolina chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, sued the city of Myrtle Beach and some businesses there alleging 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. A Baltimore, Maryland police detective who is 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.
  In a May 25, 2003 article in the New York Times, Jeffrey Gettleman reported that a pattern had emerged of black social and party events growing ever larger in stature and then collapsing and quickly being shut down, particularly in the Southern United States.  Examples given included 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 had eight motorcycle traffic deaths, while the black Memorial Day rally had three motorcycle traffic deaths.
  In 2008, the NAACP issued a press release claiming success in concluding every federal discrimination lawsuit they had filed in Myrtle Beach for complaints during bike week events from 1999–2003, against the City of Myrtle Beach, and restaurants that included Damon's Oceanfront and Barefoot Landing, J. Edward's Great Ribs, and Greg Norman's Australian Grill, as well as the Yachtsman Resort Hotel. In a settlement with the city, the police department agreed to use the same traffic pattern on the city's main boulevard for Black Bike Week as they did for Harley 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. Friendly's Ice Cream Corporation and Myrtle Beach Friends Boulevard LLC was sued in 2008 by the NAACP for allegedly closing their indoor area and offering inferior outdoor service during Black Bike Weeks from 2000–2005.
  According to an NAACP lawsuit, The Yachtsman Resort Hotel had required Black Bike Week guests to sign a thirty-four rule guest contract, prepay for their hotel bill and show photo ID. The hotel agreed to settle the case, and in addition to a payment of $1.2 million, the hotel agreed to provide future discounts and make policy changes including yearly anti-discrimination training for employees.  The settlement did not require the hotel to admit to discrimination.
  In 2010, the NAACP released a press release indicating that it would continue to monitor police and local businesses for possible discrimination.
caption: Traffic stop at Black Bike Week 2007
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