Myrtle Beach settles with NAACP in racial discrimination lawsuit over Black Bike Week
The City of Myrtle Beach has agreed to pay $50,000 to the NAACP to settle claims that the city discriminated racially against attendees of Black Bike Week.
The issue at the core of the federal lawsuit is the city’s use of additional police officers and a traffic detour for the annual Black Bike Week rally.
Dec. 10, 2020, a federal jury ruled that while the city’s actions were racially motivated, city officials would have likely reached the same decision even if race had not been a factor. The jury’s ruling essentially meant the City of Myrtle Beach did not violate the Civil Rights Act.
The NAACP filed the lawsuit against the city in 2018, alleging that Myrtle Beach used a 23-mile traffic loop only during a weekend where most visitors are Black. Atlantic Beach Bikefest, also known as Black Bike Week, is held every Memorial Day weekend — the 2020 and 2021 events were officially canceled due to the pandemic — but many visitors stay and ride in Myrtle Beach.
Myrtle Beach city attorneys argued last year that the procedures helped ease traffic congestion and make it easier for first responders to navigate Ocean Boulevard. They also said the traffic loop can be canceled early on a particular night or not used at all, as was the case for most of the 2019 event.
“Public safety was not the goal,” said Reed Colfax, who represented the NAACP during last year’s trial. “Ending Black Bike Week was the goal.”
Aug. 18, a court-ordered mediation brought the NAACP and the City of Myrtle Before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mary Gordon Baker, where both parties agreed to reach a settlement to avoid further litigation.
The settlement was filed in federal court Oct. 6.
Part of the settlement agreement is that both parties will draft a joint news release that addresses the settlement and how the city plans to ensure that operations for Black Bike Week are “fair and equitable” while also “observing the right and authority” of the city to police “in a manner that best protects public safety and promotes good order.”
When reached over the phone for comment on the settlement, Myrtle Beach Mayor Brenda Bethune said “I don’t have all of the details yet.”
Bethune said that Mark Kruea, spokesperson for the City of Myrtle Beach, will release a statement Tuesday afternoon.
The NAACP media contact page lists a phone number that has been disconnected. The organization could not be reached for comment in time for publication.
