Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs

     Before a person can begin to understand the importance of an Outlaw Motorcycle Club (OMCs), they must understand what that is. An Outlaw Motorcycle Club is a very unique societyof very few men who choose to be a part of something bigger than themselves and a brotherhood beyond any that cannot be found elsewhere. Its origin and structure evolved from the Military many years ago, utilizing the leadership structure and rank system. Furthermore, there is a very unique few who make up the 1% er Outlaw Motorcycle Club community. Clubs such as the Bandidos, Hells Angels, Outlaws, Pagans, Mongols, and Sons of Silence are all a part of the 1%er Motorcycle Club community. The 1 % er designation was labeled by the AMA (American Motorcycle Association) back in 1947 in a statement they wrote for their magazine, stating that 99% of motorcycle riders were law abiding citizens and that only 1% were criminals (“AMA 1947”).

          The earliest form of Outlaw was Jesus Christ himself, it’s because Jesus didn’t fit into           the religious mold, or the government mold like the other 99% of society. Jesus and               his followers were the 1% that didn’t “bow down” to the worlds ways. They were in               the world, but not of the world.  Jesus was an outlaw, but he was not a criminal.                       Being an “outlaw” doesn’t mean you are a criminal; it just means you don’t conform             to the world system or its leaders and its officers. (Ridenour)

Many people will disagree with the importance of Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs. This is largely due to the lack of understanding and positive exposure to what these clubs do for our communities and some will dispute the negative claims while maintaining the integrity of their beliefs of the OMCs.

        Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs date as far back as post World War II era when soldiers came home longing for continued brotherhood. They have always played a major role in urban cities social culture. Their existence, although grotesque to some, has always served their communities in a positive light. The actions of individuals at times are spotlighted by the media, which often is government driven, to gain support for banning identifying patches (also known as colors) of the OMCs. For example, the U.S.’s ATF agency tried to ban the Mongols Motorcycle Club’s patches in 2013. However, it would have broken the First Amendment rights of the club (Girardot).  The Government wanted to ban the club from being able to wear their patches publically, due to a few incidents of select individuals who are most likely not in the club anymore, since Clubs often police their own. OMCs all follow strict guidelines or bylaws which consist of their rules and regulations. If a member disobeys these rules, they can be punished by being stripped of their patches then banned from the club. It is possible the Government is afraid of these clubs around the U.S., because of their open display of unity and commitment. They are men willing to stand their ground, even against the court system, to fight for rights, as a whole. These men are veterans, fathers, husbands, brothers, sons, and uncles. The rights they fight to protect are the same rights that affect non club members, other motorcycle riders, as well as, the general public.

      There are many positive examples of these OMCs, that many only see in a negative light.One such positive example was the Hells Angels Toy run of 2015, where the club gathered funds that had been raised throughout the year to purchase a large number of bicycles (“Hells Angels Toys 2015”). They waited in line at Walmart for 5 days to catch the Black Friday sale and bought every bike in stock, roughly 200 bikes, in order to give bicycles to children whose families were too poor to purchase them themselves. Acts like this one can be seen throughout the United States by clubs of all levels. Clubs range from Christian Clubs, Veteran Clubs, Support Clubs, and OMC’s. All of which contain some of the biggest-hearted men and women one could ever meet. These are the types of people who manage fundraisers for burn victims, families who have lost their homes, children with special needs, and even the elderly.

        Make no mistake, these Clubs are not the Boy Scouts; they abide by a strict code and rules of the road protocol (Devereaux). At times incidents can occur by the acts of individuals that belong to these organizations. These incidents are often made to be more serious than they really are, and some are no worse than the crimes committed by the arresting authority or an average civilian. On May 17th of 2015 in Waco, Texas, men and woman from all clubs throughout the state of Texas gathered for a Coalition of Clubs meeting, which is to educate riders both independent and Patch holders within clubs of current laws and policies that may or may not affect them. It is also a social gathering amongst riders, and information is commonly shared about upcoming events and benefits. On this day, shots rang out, leaving nine people dead and another eighteen wounded. According to Brian Doherty, who writes for GQ, a grand total of 177 individuals were wrongfully arrested. To this day, it has yet to be proven that the gunfight that broke out started with shots fired from club members, and no police officer has been charged with illegitimate arrest or excessive force. Reports indicate that the first couple of shots were small arms fire, and the rest that followed were all automatic weapons, but no one has been able to identify the first shooter (Doherty). Everyone present that day was arrested, including both civilians and members of Motorcycle Ministries, all of which are innocent and spent a great deal of time in jail with extremely high bails. An interview was conducted by KXANS Brian Collister with Bandido Jimmy Graves, who is the Coalition of Clubs President in Waco, where he expressed the Bandidos recognize and respect law enforcement for doing their job, that they do not condone the violence portrayed upon them (“Bandidos”).  “To get the story crooked is to understand that the “straightness” of any story is a rhetorical invention: a story told from a particular perspective, informed by specific trainings told for a particular reason, to serve particular purposes. History is at best a reasoned report on the documented sources of the past” (Kellner 18).

        Members of Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs are professionals; they may not look like professionals by some individuals’ standards, because they are bikers. Despite the positive actions of club members, the media still portrays them in a negative light by focusing on the bad behavior of a few; for this reason alone, bad behavior and negative publicity is not condoned by clubs or members. The 1%er clubs often police the activities of the clubs within their area to ensure they are “behaving” accordingly and following protocol within the community of clubs. If they do not do this, then there is the possibility of individuals creating negative chaos in the area in which they reside, causing the local law enforcement to crack down on all bikers and provoke unlawful use of force. In turn, the 1%er Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs are protecting the local community in which they reside by protecting all bikers and keeping the negative activities to a minimum. If more individuals would spend time amongst these men, they would see, with their own eyes, the good they do for the community, and all of the charity events along with donations raised to help people in need. They would also see the love and the brotherhood shared by the members of these Clubs as well as the bonds from club to club. These men are the kind of men filled with passion to fight to make things like brotherhood and sisterhood possible by protecting an individual’s rights and protecting people in need, helping friends and strangers alike, standing tall for freedom, love, loyalty, respect, and trust. In which they believe, in a very powerful and sometimes intimidating force. Similar to a battalion of soldiers on the battlefield who have gone to fight and protect what they believe to be right. While protecting these rights, they provide a blanket of freedom for others to sleep under. A positive impression from an experience in this community could help to spread a positive influence throughout our society. This influence would encourage society to stand together to help others in need, even those who are members of Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs.  

Young Guns

One of the easiest things I have done in my life is return to college at 32 years of age with a 7-year gap from the last course I completed. After spending almost a decade of my life in the military, one would think that transitioning to school full time without having to get up and go to a day job would be easy. Not having to wake up at the crack of dawn to go to a job that one really isn’t happy with is a wonderful thing. However, being the oldest in my classes, even older than some of my professors, makes attending class fairly awkward. The social aspect with my peers due to the age difference is quite complex in itself. For one, when speaking to classmates some appear to not even be of age and old enough to attend these classes in college. It really makes me feel like “that guy”, the old fart going through a midlife crisis. I have traveled around the world, been to war, married, divorced, and have a daughter of my own that is in middle school. I own my own home as well as small business. My day to day chores vary greatly in comparison to that of most of my classmates. All in all, keeping up with the young bucks in my classes is by far the simplest tasking I have encountered thus far in my life.

Some of my classmates were attending school the year prior to being in class today, therefore, the material is fresh. Essentially, I am having to work twice as hard to remember and reteach myself material that is second nature to them. Google and YouTube have become my best friend for academic help. I had to go as far as watching a video on YouTube to learn how to properly use my calculator to find square roots. Meanwhile, my classmates are answering the square roots as well as other algebra problems without ever looking down at their calculator. In my English class, I have classmates that are able to decipher an essay with ease. However, for myself I read these essays, take in what I have read with a good understanding of what was written but I am unable to pick the essay apart rhetorically. I have opinions of what I read and a new profound look on the topic that was covered which makes me feel accomplished. Being able to proofread an essay seems to come with ease for my classmates, however I struggle greatly with this. Once again I can read a few sentences and only discover one or two errors whereas my classmates will find a dozen or more. This causes me to both laugh as well as question the ability my previous English teachers had to teach me.

Homework is just as I remembered in high school, short and straightforward is how I believed it would be. However, long hours are spent trying to complete some of what appears to be simple assignments. I have seen fellow classmates complete these assignments within the 20 minutes before class begins, the same assignment that I spent over two hours the night before trying to complete. At times it makes me wonder if I am amongst geniuses in all of my classes and this was done purposely to cause me to work harder to keep up with these young guns. I have become accustomed to juggling things like household chores, repairs, upgrades, lawn care as well as quarterly taxes for my business unlike homework. All these things that seemed easy before I started doing homework on a daily basis. So I find myself bouncing back and forth throughout the day or evening between a chore and assignment, trying to find a happy balance between the two so that I do not fall behind with either.

My outlook on life also is considerably different in comparison to my younger classmates. For some they have only begun to see life and what it has to offer while some would say I have lived a lifetime already. I’ve witnessed some of the more horrific things that one can see as well as seen some of the beautiful things that cannot be described by an amateur writer. Some of the wonderful adult tasks of life that weigh on my shoulders vary greatly in comparison to my young classmates. These young whipper snappers are experiencing things like Ghostbusters and Mission Impossible for the first time while I was there from the beginning. Nothing compares to the first time you see Dan Akroyd suck up a ghost. My worries are far more extravagant on a daily basis than for some, more like Indiana Jones reaching the temple of doom rather than Nemo finding his father.

My gray hairs are far from an indication of me being just the “old guy” in class. They represent a life that I lived that my classmates are just beginning. Life essentially has brought us together at this point in time. There are many things I can share about life with these young bucks as well as many things they can share with me, like how to play beer pong with strategy. I could serve to learn a few things from the light saber toting students in the recreation center to battle professors for good grades like Luke Skywalker against dark forces. The struggles I face daily to be able to attend college at this point in my life are no laughing matter, although I occasionally make jokes about it to lighten the mood just as I would make jokes while in country and at war. Each day I push myself to work harder than the day before to maintain my grades, to be successful in class like my younger classmates. I worked for a long time and worked hard to be able to be here today. I have a lot of pride in being in school today, in a sense it is my current job and my job is to be taken seriously. I may be the “old guy” in class sometimes but I’ll always feel as cool as Maverick and Goose when I arrive at my seat, sometimes you have to keep upforeign relations amongst the age groups.

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Rockabilly Rebel

            The Rockabilly lifestyle is more than just music or an outfit. In modern day society people have watered down the subculture by not being true to the lifestyle that it is, only wearing the attire on occasions to appear to have the “look” associated with it. Rockabilly is a subcultural of life that began in the 1950s around the time Rock ‘n’ Roll appeared in the music scene. The Rockabilly lifestyle today has evolved from what began as simply a Rockabilly music trend which is a combination of western music styles such as country mixed with rhythm and blues. Some of the more well-known Rockabilly artist that began this genre of music are Johnny Cash, Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, and Johnny Lee Lewis. As time passed, artist such as Stray Cats, The Reverend Horton Heat, The Chop Tops, and HorrorPops appeared in the music scene. A lot of young listeners took a liking to this genre of music because it was not as mainstream as what was popular on the radio of those eras of time. They longed to be different and not follow the masses of society and be a rebel which was the desire they had. Essentially, Rockabilly, is composed of the younger working class generation.

            Clothing also began to evolve for the people that followed the Rockabilly music scene. Early on males’ attire consisted mostly of jeans cuffed at the bottom, industrial boots or chuck taylor shoes, white t shirts, and greased hair either slicked back or fixed in a pompadour. In the winter they wore either leather jackets or dickies style work jackets. For dressing up purposes wingtip shoes, jeans, and button up western style shirts or bowling shirts were popular. Many males today still wear this style clothing, in addition to some more modern twist with accessories and more options for shirts and pants, the basis is still the same. For woman in the Rockabilly culture, also known as Rockabellas, feature a flashy Pin Up look with big hair styles for fashion. Early on, the look consisted of low flat shoes, long skirted dresses, teased hair, and red lipstick. The Rockabellas look was an exaggerated version of an adult woman in the 50s. As time evolved the look has evolved with it. Today the Rockabellas have put more of an edgy twist to the attire. Rockabellas wear various combinations of lower cut tops revealing more cleavage, short and long skirts, jeans, flats, chuck taylors, and boots as well as heels. Their hair too has also gotten more elaborate with taller hairstyles, curls, accessorized with pins, bows, and bandannas. The makeup too has become more edgy than just red lipstick, with winged eyeliner applied and various colors of lipstick to stand out more. For both men and woman tattoos are more common as well with having full sleeves of tattoos, tattooed chest pieces, as well as hand tattoos, and piercings.

            There are other parts to the lifestyle not associated with the clothing choices and music choices. Many people today prefer the more vintage essentials in life. Including items used within the home. Record players are popular, Pyrex dishes as opposed to plastic containers made today as well as woman conducting daily chores while wearing aprons just like the woman in the 50s and 60s. The fascination for daily life in how people lived throughout the 50s, 60s, and 70s is appealing to the people amongst the Rockabilly subculture. Rockabillies often tend to drive vintage cars from those era’s as well as wear the clothing. Of course today one simply cannot get by without some modern amenities but many still choose some of the same that were around in the past as opposed to modern choices. Around the world, occasionally throughout the year, there are even social events that people can attend to be amongst their peers in this subculture within society. Rockabilly bars, car shows, bike shows, and even fashion shows are all examples of the social environments of which Rockabillies tend to attend. The atmosphere at these events are considerably different than other modern social gatherings. People are beautifully dressed for the part, laid back, relaxed, and there is always plenty of bands or cars to see.

            Many prefer this lifestyle because it brings a sense of simplicity and satisfaction to their life. It allows them to express themselves colorfully amongst the public with the dresses, crazy hair, and tattoos. This also symbolizes a feeling of freedom from what they feel to be the standard in modern society as far as how to dress and look. The way of thinking is also more simple as opposed to modern society. The cars have a lot less to them making it easier and cheaper to repair for daily use. A sense of pride is taken in being able to wrench on your own automobile to customize it in ways they did in the past with custom paint jobs, skulls for decorations, lowered suspension, loud exhaust, and tall shifters. The cost associated with living this lifestyle can also be simpler for the modern day person. Having no loan or a small loan on your car can aid greatly in being able to maintain your home and other daily living aspects such as food and utility bills. Not having your home outfitted with every latest and greatest piece of technology that comes out on the market also allows more resources to be used on the important essentials of life. Above all the Rockabilly lifestyle can be defined as simple freedom, self-expression, and a simpler way of life.

            For myself this lifestyle has brought great many of joys to me. I prefer many of the vintage amenities of the past as well as the clothing choices, and automobiles. I drive a 1954 Belair Hardtop daily, which was a very popular car in its time as well as today. I spend many of my weekends or afternoons maintaining or customizing this car just as the Rockabilly guys were doing in the 60s and 70s. My home is also of this same era built in 1955 with many amenities from that time as well. The clothing is appealing to me because I feel myself and comfortable when dressing Rockabilly. The music I also find to be enriching, the lyrics and tunes move the soul, and I absolutely love the look of the Rockabellas of today’s time. Whenever an opportunity presents itself I attend Rockabilly events throughout the area, and I encourage others to attend as well.  When I see someone dressing the part the first thought that comes to mind is wondering, “are they really Rockabilly?” in the aspect that they live the lifestyle or simply choose the Rockabilly/Rockabella look for that day’s attire. I always find it inspiring to meet people who have also opened up to the lifestyle that is Rockabilly and share the same joys of the simpler life that I do.

 

 

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