NAACP sues Myrtle Beach for ‘racially discriminatory practices during Black Bike Week’

Myrtle Beach, S.C. (WPDE) — The NAACP has filed suit against Myrtle Beach and Myrtle Beach police citing discrimination against African American tourists during Black Bike Week.

The complaint was filed by the National NAACP, the Myrtle Beach Branch of the NAACP and three individuals in U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, according to a news release.

The organization has also filed a motion for preliminary injunction to stop the city from enforcing its plans for the 2018 event this coming May.

According to a news release, the complaint says there are “stark differences in the treatment of African-American bikers during Black Bike Week compared to the treatment of majority-White bikers during Harley Week.”

“White bikers do not have to go through that, so why should we?” said individual plaintiff Simuel Jones, a Black Bike Week attendee and former U.S. Marine.

Harley week occurs in early May where Black Bike Week occurs during Memorial Day weekend.

Officials with the NAACP have said in the past that the city’s plans for the motorcycle rally over Memorial Day weekend, including a 23-mile traffic loop, are discriminatory against the black attendees coming for the event also known as Bikefest.

NAACP leaders cite the traffic loop as part of their complaint.

“The City of Myrtle Beach and its police department impose no formal traffic plan during Harley Week. However, during Black Bike Week they restrict the main two-way thoroughfare, Ocean Boulevard, to a single lane of southbound traffic. All vehicles entering Ocean Boulevard at night are forced to travel through a 23-mile loop with just one exit. On Saturday night of Black Bike Week, it could take over six hours to complete the loop,” according to the news release.

The complaint also cites the City of Myrtle Beach deploying more officers during Black Bike Week than Harley Week. They also cite that “police officers utilize overly aggressive policing tactics against African Americans.”

With those two complaints, the NAACP says “the City seeks to make Black Bike Week sufficiently unpleasant for the mostly African-American motorcyclists, hoping that they stop attending the event and that it ceases to exist.”

Anson Asaka, the NAACP National Office Associate General Counsel, was in Myrtle Beach on Tuesday for the organization’s news conference announcing the suit. He said the goal is to have Black Bike Week treated “like every other event in the city.”

“All citizens are entitled to equal protection under the law and have the rights of expression, assembly and association,” said NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson. “The City’s traffic plan and overly aggressive policing tactics during Black Bike Week violate those fundamental constitutional rights. The Association will continue to use the courts to fight such blatant discrimination.”

In 2003, the NAACP filed a lawsuit against the city over its previous traffic plan. In 2005, the district court granted the NAACP’s motion for preliminary injunction, finding that differences in the traffic plans between Black Bike Week and Harley Week were likely motivated by race and in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, according to the news release.

The NAACP settled with the city shortly after, but in 2015, after the agreement expired, the city imposed the new traffic loop that was more restrictive than the original plan.

“The City’s traffic plan does not facilitate traffic,” said Myrtle Beach Branch NAACP President Mickey James. “It does not promote public safety. Unfortunately, it is designed to discourage African-Americans from attending Black Bike Week.”

James said the NAACP tried to sit down with the city to make another plan that “would not cause so much hostility,” but those plans were rejected.

ABC 15 reached out to the city for comment and City of Myrtle Beach spokesman Mark Kruea said the city cannot comment on pending litiation.