MYRTLE BEACH — A lawsuit that alleges the city of Myrtle Beach and its police department discriminated against Black tourists and bikers will be tried Wednesday afternoon in federal court.
The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the NAACP, the Myrtle Beach Branch of the NAACP and three individuals allege in a lawsuit that Myrtle Beach and its police discriminated against African-American tourists when “they imposed a burdensome 23-mile traffic loop on Ocean Boulevard.”
Each year during the month of May, two separate motorcycle rallies are held, each bringing many visitors to the Grand Strand.
During the middle of the month, the Myrtle Beach Bike Week Spring Rally — or “Harley Week” — is held and the “vast majority of participants are white, and the area welcomes them,” according to the lawsuit.
Two weeks later, over the Memorial Day weekend, motorcycle enthusiasts gather for Atlantic Beach Bikefest, or “Black Bike Week.”
“The vast majority of Black Bike Week visitors are African-American and the event historically has been met with opposition and resistance from the city of Myrtle Beach and many local businesses,” according to the complaint.
In 2003, an earlier lawsuit was filed that alleged the city discouraged participation by imposing an “unequal and unjustified traffic plan during Black Bike Week and that the plan was motivated by racial discrimination.”
The plaintiffs in that case argued that Black Bike Week should be treated the same as Harley Week. Chief U.S. District Court Judge Terry Wooten found that the differences in the two traffic plans “were likely motivated by race and therefore likely unconstitutional.”
The judge granted the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction and ordered the city to implement similar traffic plans for the two events.
That 2003 case was ultimately settled between the two parties with Myrtle Beach agreeing to a consent order requiring them to “maintain similar operation plans” for each festival for a period of five years.
The NAACP claims that Myrtle Beach “resumed its differential treatment of the motorcycle rallies” after the order expired.
The city doesn’t implement a traffic pattern during Harley Week, according to the lawsuit, and festival-goers are able to freely move throughout the city. On the other hand, during Black Bike Fest the city reduces Ocean Boulevard down to a single lane of travel.
“During the late-night hours of the event, all motorists entering Ocean Boulevard are forced into a 23-mile loop that has just one exit.”
As a result, a drive down Ocean Boulevard during Black Bike Fest “could take as long as five hours.”
The NAACP claims the traffic solution used by the city has “no legitimate traffic or safety-related justification and leads to “increased frustration and anxiety for motorists and pedestrians.”
“The city’s traffic plan does not facilitate traffic,” Myrtle Beach Branch NAACP President Mickey James said. “It does not promote public safety. Unfortunately, it is designed to discourage African-Americans from attending Black Bike Week.”
The complaint also claims that Myrtle Beach has different staffing levels in terms of law enforcement during both festivals.
“During the 2017 Black Bike Week, as many as 800 law enforcement officers, including many from other jurisdictions, patrolled the city. Less than a 10th of that number were present for 2017 Harley Week.”
According to the lawsuit, Myrtle Beach’s goal is to make Black Bike Week “sufficiently unpleasant for the mostly African-American motorcyclists that they stop attending and the event ceases to exist.”
The lawsuit says that Myrtle Beach used violent instances during the 2014 Memorial Day Weekend as an explanation for the traffic loop, but “no link was drawn.” It also points out that violence has gradually increased throughout the city over the years and has also “extended” to Harley Week.
It claims that the traffic loop should not be a “rational response to such violence.”
“African-Americans deserve equality and fairness like any other citizen of our nation,” Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law said. “The fact that the city of Myrtle Beach and its police department insist on implementing policies during Black Bike Week that are racially motivated and relegate African-American tourists to second-class treatment is disgraceful.”
