The all new Y2K Redneck Cycle??? By: Beemer Dan

The Civil War has been over for over a hundred years, the south was smacked down and shamed for being the bunch of racist bastards they were. So why is it we still have to deal with a percentage of the United States thinking there was something glorious about trying to keep a way of life that caused harm, misery and death to others? Historians aside, just what the fuck is going on that anyone can look upon this dark age of our country and think it's worth glorifying? Every 'biker' rally, swap meet and public charity ride I have ever been to seems to be peppered with the mark of the backwards redneck. kkk badges, nazi flags and the ever present confederate 'rebel' flag. The 'rebel' flag is well known in the motorcycling world, but for a meaning that is so much the reverse of it's original meaning, the dead confederate soldiers are breakdancing in their graves. The confederate south represented an old lifestyle, that of the aristocratic mindset, of old ways and old beliefs. None of the confederacy was rebellious in nature, it was loyal to beliefs and ways of the dark ages. This all brings me to my latest rant about a company known as Confederate Motorcycles. For some reason they felt the need to taint otherwise nice motorcycles with a heritage of hate and ignorance. One of their bikes, the N.B.F. Hellcat, is named after nathan bedford forrest, a general in the confederate army. Although some feel nathan bedford forrest was a brilliant cavalryman, I should point out some of his other high points: - He was responsible for the massacre of blacks at Fort Pillow, April 30th 1864. - He helped start the organization known as the kkk. - He served as the head of the kkk from 1867-1869. Yeah, real war hero eh? hitler managed to get an entire country out of a terrible depression, hell, let's name a damn car after him (henry ford would have liked to, but we won't get into that now). Why shouldn't there be a stalinmobile or a polpotcycle? Lets just glorify every hatemonger the world has ever known, as soon as enough years have passed, all the murder and hate doesn't matter anyway does it? Well, yes actually, it does. When the klan decided to have a lame little speech here in Colorado on the capitol steps, there were riots. Apparently, most people get outraged by this sort of backwards racist thinking, go figure. So why is it that all of this bigoted garbage is deemed acceptable by much of the 'biker' culture. Just what the fuck do motorcycles have to do with hate and ignorance anyway? Is this problem a prevalent in the rest of the world's motorcyclists, well no. Welcome to the USA, where you are free to be as ignorant and bigoted as you like. Well screw all that, I didn't shy away from emailing the confederate motorcycle company and telling them how I feel, or going to the local dealer and letting them know that I won't be purchasing one of their bikes. I don't have any problems with telling the idiots wearing nazi or kkk crap what I think of them, or telling the vendors at swap meets that their peddling of racist garbage is sick. Cycle World magazine seemed very impressed with this bike made by confederate cycles, although the headlight did fall off during the test ride ( hey man, how long do you expect a burning cross to last at 60mph? ). Kudos to David Edwards, CW's editor-in-cheif for pointing out his personal dismay in the glorification of the racist undertones of this motorcycle company's creation. We should all be bold enough to speak our minds about this and let the motorcycle manufacturers, event organizers, rally vendors and producers of hate inspired goods know that we don't want this shit! Next time you are at an event and there is someone selling racist crap, complain to the event organizers, they will listen. Don't be afraid to tell the people selling, displaying and wearing this crap that you don't agree with it. Encourage anyone that is offended or angered by the display of hate to make their voices heard. Do your part to inform any writers, or reporters and media sorts that this crap exists, they will make sure the word gets out to more people. Most of all, don't think that if you ignore it, it will go away, obviously, it only gets worse.