Sorry for the long rant but this stuff makes me mad. I belong to an LEMC and we wear the bottom rocker. This subject keeps popping up and I find the arguments ridiculous. A few comments and articles I've read, are basically saying the non 1% clubs who wear a bottom rocker need to seek permission. Does that make any sense? A law enforcement group needs to ask a criminal organization permission to wear something that they have a constitutional right to wear? That is their defense when places refuse entry or participation based on colors; freedom of speech and right to assemble and all that, and who is standing right there to protect those rights? The police. The hypocrisy is astounding. I remember a motorcycle event a few years ago banned colors, and ABATE fought for the rights of outlaw clubs as much as they fought for the 99% clubs.
That being said, I know gangs, and I know what they are about; making money through criminal activity within a territory that they protect with their lives. Period. Other gangs encroach on an established territory and there is bloodshed. I live and work in Chicago and this is a fact of life here. If these gangs and clubs have the slightest suspicion that you are dealing in the territory, they will confront you with violence, and colors, patches, and tattoos mean everything in their world. I was a jail guard for 12 years and now work at dispatch. Those of you who read the papers, watch the news, are only told a fraction of the crime here. 20 people shot, and 3 dead is almost an everyday occurrence.
I get the whole colors-gangs-rocker-outlaw thing, but my club has never had a run in with an outlaw club because we mind our own business, and that's what everyone needs to do. I've met some guys from the outlaw clubs and I don't agree with what they do, but they live their lives the way they want, as do I. The fact that I have a Chicago rocker doesn't mean that I am making a claim on their territory, and that's what every shooting, fight, or confrontation is about between the outlaw clubs. The outlaw clubs know this, and most of the time they leave you alone because there is no threat, or they have nothing to gain, or they just don't want the heat. We have a big LE square right next to our center patch. We don't pose as a gang, we don't pick fights, and unless someone messes with us, we mind our own business. We don't hide who we are, or where we are from, nor go out of our way to aggravate another club, just like FLSTFI Dave said.
I swear some of this stuff is written by sympathizers trying to scare people into not joining a club. Sorry, but they don't own the rights or patent to a 3 patch cut, and wearing one doesn't mean you are in an outlaw club. Sadly some of these gangs and clubs cant see past their own bullchit and think everyone is like them and live by their street rules. I remember processing some little gangbanger years ago. He comes in all cocky, wearing his best ghetto gear (4x red shirt although he's 120lbs, baggy jeans, new air force ones), and boasting about how much rock he slings, and how big his knot is (how much crack cocaine he sells and how much money he has). When I searched his shoes he told me to be careful and "you don't know nothin' bout no Jordans, ya'll cant afford them". After we traded some insults we had a long conversation about jobs, money, and what each of us believe is financially secure. He couldn't understand why I wouldn't by $300 Nikes or put 20in spinners on my car, or why I put money in a bank. He couldn't think outside of his own little world. The color red and new Nikes meant everything to him and he just couldn't believe there were people and a world beyond his little neighborhood that don't care about those things.
There are dirty/good cops, there are dirty/good clubs, and neither good cops or clubs want to be lumped into the bad group and be guilty by association. Bikers have a reputation to begin with, but what the media has done lately is despicable. 1% has become synonymous with criminal, and maybe some clubs have embraced that. Other clubs that aren't one or the other get labeled as criminal anyway, and that is a shame. Being a biker used to mean non-conformity, now it means you are a scumbag. Being the police these days isn't good either, officers can thank the media for that one too.
Maybe people are mimicking the outlaw clubs because they watched sons of anarchy once too many times? I don't know, but what I do know is to mind your own business, don't mess with people, and if you don't want the attention of a gang, then don't act like you are in a gang. They don't know you, or "what you be about", and will not hesitate to make you an example.