COLUMBIA, S.C. – The city of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, was motivated by race when it created a traffic plan designed to “suck the fun” out of Black Bike Week, a federal jury has found.
But the same jury sided against the bikers, saying the city probably would have imposed the plan anyway.Civil rights groups accused the city of racially discriminating against the Black tourists by treating them differently than white bikers who attend Harley Week earlier each May, and who are responsible for many of the same public nuisances, from binge drinking to noise complaints.The Black bikers have been particularly frustrated by a 23-mile (37-kilometer) one-way no-exit traffic chute that funnels them out of town during the peak nights of Atlantic.