Home Links Events News History Opinions Guestbook Contact Us Photo Gallery Latest Updates Support Store ARE YOU NOW, OR HAVE YOU EVER BEEN A TERRORIST? HELLS ANGELS LEADER AQUITTED OF MURDER! ARE YOU NOW, OR HAVE YOU EVER BEEN A TERRORIST? HELLS ANGELS LEADER AQUITTED OF MURDER! The Hells Angels, as well as other 1% clubs have been, not only targets, but a testing ground for law enforcement tactics. From our post war birth, in 1948, to the present, law enforcement has not stopped its obsession to destroy our pursuit of freedom. As our world changes and society takes advantage of new technology to meet its needs, law enforcement redefines what we have become to meet theirs. It appears that they are now in an all out effort to use the September 11 assault on our country to their benefit. This is not only a insult to the memory of those lost that day, but to our country, as they feed off its aftermath. The word terrorists can strike fear and many good Americans have been seduced into thinking, giving up what the founding fathers of this country fought so hard for, is the only answer to secure our safety. Whatever your opinion on this thought provoking issue, let me put your mind to rest on one question. The Hells Angels are not terrorists, we were born from the veterans who fought to keep freedom alive. Let's go back in time to the to the story of why the Hells Angels ran with the Olympic Torch. The word terrorists has tried to be linked to our Club as far back as 1984. It didn't work then and it wont work now. Response from George Christie Jr: The news story of the Torch is not really one story, but a series of events that touch each other much like the Olympic rings themselves. If not for the pressure of law enforcement, the events for us would have come and gone with little interest from the media. Initially, our organization had little or no interest in becoming personally involved in the Olympics. However, law enforcement made serious accusations of conspiring with terrorists factions to disrupt the Olympics. This outraged us to the point that we felt that we had no choice but to show the American public that, not only would we never consider such and act, that in fact we supported the event with our participation. Media attention started with the announcement that the Hells Angels would run a leg in the Olympic torch Relay. This caused much controversy. Not only with law enforcement, but also with the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee. Once the Committee announced that they would accept us as participants, the media blitz continued way beyond the event itself. The dispute with Eunic Shriver ( President Kennedy's Sister ) and the Special Olympics Program continued on, with comments from small town newspapers to the David Letterman Show, and was not resolved until 4 years later through an undisclosed out - of - court settlement with all awards going to the Special Olympics program and Pottstown, Pennsylvania, our designated recipient. After all this positive attention from the media, approximately 4 weeks later, in the wee hours of the morning, a grenade was thrown into the Hells Angels Ventura Clubhouse, putting things back into perspective for us. Although we were victims, only days later, federal agents stormed the Ventura Clubhouse, armed with search warrants on the presumption that we had geared up our defenses with sophisticated illegal weapons. I had several suspects in mind after the bombing and these actions by the agents confirmed my suspicions that they may have been the perpetrators of the attack to control the spin of our positive media attention. I had continued to represent the club as a spokesperson in both print and television. Law enforcement and the Hells Angels seemed to be a favorite topic of the media. I continued my outspoken statements despite warnings from law enforcement personnel. I have been warned to shut my mouth about specific agencies or retribution would find its way to me. In October 1986, law enforcement fulfilled their promise to me. For approximately the next year, I spent my days preparing for one of the biggest events of my life from a federal prison. For a murder that never happened and a crime I never committed. I was facing a life sentence on Count 1 and an additional 20 years on Count 2. The trial lasted 9 weeks and gave me an education that no college or university could ever provide. If not for my attorney, Barry Tarlow, and his dedicated and courageous effort, I very well could be writing this from a federal prison. The wheels of justice turn slow, but they did turn true for this chapter in my life. Terrorist Essay Introduction: In a quest to have the term terrorist defined I asked Dr. Holl for his thoughts on this subject. His opinion is now on the essay posted below. I have also included a short bio. on Dr. Holl. Bruce Holl is originally from Madison, Wisconsin. He received a BA, MA and PhD in Slavic Languages and Literatures from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an MA in Russian from Middlebury College, Vermont. He is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, where he teaches courses on Russian literature and a seminar on America in the 1960's. I want to thank Dr. Holl for not only his time but his interest. George Christie "Terrorism" and the Motorcycle Clubs Dr. Bruce Holl Recently law enforcement agencies from five counties in Southern California arrested 22 members of the Vagos Motorcycle Club. The Los Angeles Times, in its report of the incident, provided the following quote from one of the officials involved in the arrests: "'Today is just the beginning,' said Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona. 'The Hells Angels, the Vagos -- they are not clubs. The reality is that they're supporting [street] terrorism" (March 10, 2006). From the form of the quotation it is clear that Sheriff Carona actually said "The reality is that they're supporting terrorism." The authors of the article, Lance Pugmire and Amanda Covarrubias, simply followed common journalistic procedure by adding an extra word in square brackets to clarify the speaker's meaning. They evidently assumed that the sheriff was referring not to "terrorism" in general, but to "street terrorism," a felony as defined in the California Street Terrorism Enforcement and Prevention Act. All of this raises several questions: What is the definition of "terrorism"? Is it the same thing as "street terrorism"? Can either term be reasonably applied to motorcycle clubs? The essay that follows seeks to answer these questions by providing dictionary definitions, current legal definitions, examples of past usage, and finally some conclusion about "terrorism" and motorcycle clubs. The Origin of the Word (Oxford English Dictionary) According to the 19th century Oxford English Dictionary, which provides word origins as well as definitions, the English word "terrorism" derives from the French "terrorisme," a "system of terror." The following definitions are provided: 1. Government by intimidation as directed and carried out by the party in power in France during the Revolution of 1789-1794; the system of the 'Terror.' 2. A policy intended to strike with terror those against whom it is adopted; the employment of methods of intimidation; the fact of terrorizing or condition of being terrorized. The reader is also referred to definition 4 of the word "terror": 4. Reign of terror, a state of things in which the general community live in dread of death or outrage; esp. in French Hist. the period of the First Revolution from about March 1793 to July 1794, called also the Terror, the Red Terror, when the ruling faction remorselessly shed the blood of persons of both sexes and of all ages and conditions whom they regarded as obnoxious. Modern Definitions (Webster's Third New International Dictionary) Webster's Third New International (2002), a guide to contemporary American usage, also gives two definitions of "terrorism": 1. the systematic use of terror as a means of coercion. 2. an atmosphere or threat of violence. The reader is also referred to definition 3 of the word "terror": 3. REIGN OF TERROR (reports that the Germans are increasing their reign of terror in occupied regions). Legal Definitions (The USA Patriot Act) There are many references to "terrorism" in Federal statutes. The most recent and relevant definition appears in the USA Patriot Act, enacted after the attacks of September 11, 2001. The Act defines "Domestic Terrorism" as activities that (A) involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of criminal laws of the United States or of any State; (B) appear to be intended (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and (C) occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States Legal Definitions (The California Street Terrorism Enforcement and Prevention Act) Subsection 186.21 of the California Street Terrorism Enforcement and Prevention Act defines gang members as people who "threaten, terrorize and commit a multitude of crimes against the peaceful citizens of their neighborhoods." Subsection 186.22 (a) of the Act defines a street terrorist as "any person who actively participates in any criminal street gang with knowledge that its members engage in or have engaged in a pattern of criminal gang activity, and who willfully promotes, furthers, or assists in any felonious criminal conduct by members of that gang." Historical Usage (The New York Times) The examples that follow, spanning some one hundred and fifty years, are all from The New York Times or from other newspapers as reported in the Times. The first citations, by far the most numerous, all pertain to organized violence with some political purpose, as in a war or revolution. - A speaker at the Mercantile Library Association in 1855 placed terrorism in a category with revolutionary political philosophies: "Liberty is not Socialism, Agrarianism, Communism, or Terrorism -- such are all attributes of the savage and the brute" (Feb. 1, 1855). - During the Civil War each side used the term to describe the other: The Saint Louis Democrat described rebel activities in Missouri as "bushwacking terrorism" (Aug. 18, 1864) while the Richmond Examiner declared that "The Government of Lincoln will fall by its own sword. Terrorism may do for a while in France" but it will "fail in England or America" (May 20, 1863). - The term was used by both the Allies and the Axis in World War II. A headline from 1938 reads "Note Accuses Japanese Of Shanghai Terrorism" (Aug. 17, 1938) but the Times in 1940 noted that the German press called the British bombing of Berlin "organized terrorism" (Oct. 23, 1940). - Eventually some British and American observers began to wonder if the Germans had not been correct. In the 1980s the author of a letter to the editor of the Times wrote "In the first place, although everyone is opposed to terrorism, no one can define it. If it is the practice of attempting to achieve a political goal by murderous violence directed against defenseless noncombatants, then the recent Harrod's car bombing (in which five died) and the Allied incendiary bombing of Dresden in 1945 (in which 40,000 died) would both qualify" (Jan 1, 1984). - An item from Russia in 1902 referred to revolutionaries who sought to overthrow the country's legitimate government: "The rioting continues to spread in South Russia. The military thus far have been unable to prevent incendiarism, terrorism, and plundering" (April 29, 1902). - The Times correctly continued to apply the term to the Russian revolutionaries even after they had toppled the legitimate government, the Constituent Assembly, in a coup d'état: "The majority of delegates chosen were opposed to the Bolsheviki, so by sheer terrorism the meeting of the Assembly had been prevented" (Jan. 18, 1918). - The term would later be applied to revolutionaries elsewhere in the world who were funded by the Soviets. In the 1960s the times reported "Battle Activity Low in Vietnam As Acts of Terrorism Continue." Among the acts of Viet Cong terrorism reported in the article was an explosive charge in a restaurant that killed six civilians and wounded eight others (Sept. 25, 1969). Very frequently "terrorism" has been used to describe acts of violence related to conflicts in the middle east: - A 1938 article entitled "3 Hanged In Palestine" features the sub-heading "Arabs Die in British Drive to Stamp Out Terrorism" (June 26, 1938). (The British governed Palestine between the World Wars; the three Arabs in question had killed a Jewish chauffeur and fired on British troops.) - After the episode at the 1972 Olympics the Times reported "The United States embarked today on diplomatic efforts throughout the world and new security measures at home to try to curb international terrorism following yesterday's killings of members of the Israeli Olympic team at Munich in the attack by Palestinian guerrillas" (September 7, 1972). - When the World Trade Center was bombed for the first time in 1993 the Times reported (in a chilling portent of the 2001 attack) that "Nervous relatives jammed the 911 emergency lines. And an anxiety that began in lower Manhattan at lunch time yesterday grew infectious as the day grew long, generating a restless buzz throughout New York City" (Feb. 27, 1993). Terrorism, thus defined, is relatively rare in the United States, but there have been examples, especially in the 1960s. - In a 1970 article entitled "The Militants Who Play With Dynamite," Wade Green cited hundreds of bombings by anti-war radicals, including what he called "the biggest bomb blast yet," the bombing of the Army Math Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in August, 1970. (Oct. 25, 1970) This bombing killed one graduate student, wounded several other people, did six million dollars worth of damage, and destroyed the life's work of several scientists; it was rightly described at the time as the largest single act of domestic terrorism in U. S. History. - The destruction of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City superseded all previous bombings: "The motive and identities of the bomber are not yet known, but the target suggests this may have been an attack on the American Government. If the threat originates abroad, Mr. Clinton will have to galvanize Federal resources to deal with a frightening escalation of terrorism within the borders of the United States" (April 20, 1995). - The U. S. Government itself has also been called a perpetrator of terrorism: Henry Steele Commager wrote in the Times "Americans, too, must confess their own history of terrorism against those they feared or hated or regarded as 'lesser breeds.' Thus, the extermination of the Pequot Indians as early as 1637; the Sand Creek massacre of some 500 Cheyenne women and children in 1864 -- and this after the tribe had surrendered; the lurid atrocities against Filipinos struggling for independence at the beginning of this century; Lieut. William L. Calley's massacre of 450 Vietnamese women, children and old men at Mylai in 1969" (June 27, 1985). - Radical opponents of the U. S. government, like the neo-Stalinist M. I. T. professor Noam Chomsky, have seized on the term after September 11: "The U. S. is the only country condemned for international terrorism by the world court and that rejected a Security Council resolution calling on states to observe international law. The United States continues international terrorism (Noam Chomsky, 9/11 [New York, 2002], p. 44). Sometimes "terrorism" has been invoked in situations that do not involve revolution or war. Nonetheless there is still generally a political dimension to the use of the term: - A striking oil worker from Bayonne, New Jersey wrote in 1915 that the workers demands "are reasonable enough" but "the Standard Oil" in denying them "is only living up to its past policy of absolute terrorism" (July 26, 1915). But the U. S. attorney in Chicago had said a year earlier that "labor terrorism," meaning "personal violence ... blackmail and extortion" on the part of union leaders, had "disrupted the relations between employers and employees here" (June 26, 1914). Finally, writers on occasion have applied their own quirky definitions of "terrorism": - Mrs. William Crane of New York City, in a letter with curiously modern content, wrote to the New York Times to protest hazing and favoritism toward athletes at Annapolis and other American universities: "One may well hesitate before entering a young son, reared tenderly and with a regard for others, into the colleges of the land, where brutality and athletism seem to bear the palm of greatness. Why do the professors shirk their duty to allow such terrorism? Of what are they afraid?" (Nov. 4, 1903). In the decades prior to September 11, 2001 the word "terrorism" appeared in the New York Times at most a few times a week in a variety of contexts. In the first year after September 11 it appeared some 5,451 times, almost always with reference to the events of that date. On the day of the attacks The Times headlined one article "A Somber Bush Says Terrorism Cannot Prevail" (Sept. 11, 2001). On the next day President Bush said "America and our friends and allies join with all those who want peace and security in the world. And we stand together to win the war against terrorism" (Sept. 12, 2001). Since September 11 the word "terrorism" has been firmly and almost exclusively identified with Muslim extremists who seek to kill or injure the citizens of the United States and its allies. Street Terrorism (Lexis/Nexis) There is one other variant of the word "terrorism" that is still fairly common after September 11, 2001. This is the term "street terrorism," which Sheriff Carona may or may not have had in mind when he described the Vagos and other motorcycle clubs. The phrase "street terrorism" actually has a fairly long history, although its use is relatively rare. Earlier it was a synonym of "terrorism" as defined above: - The Times cited its use during World War I by the State Government of Bavaria: "They announce their refusal to cooperate with the Spartacides and Communists, and that they are prepared to oppose all street terrorism" (March 5, 1918). - The term was used similarly in the 1970s with respect to the Irish Republican Army. When the British Government devised a peace plan the Times wrote: "What impact the political moves will have on the street terrorism in Ulster remains a fundamental question. Since direct rule last March, and especially in the last few months, it is quite evident that the I.R.A. has been seriously weakened by stepped-up British intelligence, an elaborate network of informers and the considerable weariness in Catholic districts" (Nov. 5, 1972). Since roughly the late 1980s "street terrorism" has been used in the United States with a somewhat different meaning. In an article entitled "Gang Violence Shocks Los Angeles," the Times noted the following: "Meanwhile, the California Street Terrorism Enforcement and Prevention Act is pending in the state legislature. The bill, which has drawn concern from civil libertarians, would make it a crime to actively participate in street gangs" (Feb. 8, 1988). It was clear from the article that the proposed law and the term "street terrorism" were aimed at African-American youth gangs like the Crips and Bloods that are traditionally called "street gangs." This was confirmed after the law was passed: - The Times reported in 1989: "Using a new state law intended to hold parents responsible for the criminal activity of their children, the police [in Los Angeles] have arrested the mother of a 17-year-old suspect on the ground that she condoned his membership in a street gang" (May 4, 1989). (The boy was member of the Crips. Charges against his mother were eventually dropped.) - That same month a young man was shot to death over his baseball cap. The case was cited by the Times to illustrate the need for the Street Terrorism Act: "Mr. Rios was gunned down by two members of a Los Angeles street gang while riding on a bus last month. The gang members were offended by his Los Angeles Dodgers cap. It was blue -- the color associated with the Crips. His assailants were Bloods, who wear red. Mr. Rios was 16 when he died. He was not a member of a gang. One of his alleged assailants, a Blood, was captured. He is 15." (May 18, 1989). In recent years, as a result of the new law, the term has been picked up by other newspapers and applied to other youth gangs: - The San Francisco Chronicle in 2003 reported an incident among surfers in Santa Cruz, California: "An out-of-town surfer who suffered a broken tooth and injured knee last year when he and his teenage son got in a brawl with locals dubbed the 'Dirty Underwear Gang' has filed a lawsuit seeking to have the local clique deemed a criminal street gang under the state's Street Terrorism Enforcement and Prevention Act. If successful, gang members could be barred from Palos Verdes surf spots" (March 4, 2003). - Expanded usage of the term is not limited to California. The St. Petersburg (Florida) Times reported in 2005 the arrest of a 21-year-old man "after he was accused of using a knife to initiate teenage members of a street gang." The article further reported that the man "was trying to recruit members to Folk Nation," an "alliance of street gangs" based in Chicago. The article states: "Classified under the state's street terrorism and prevention law, the third-degree felony carries a punishment of up to five years in prison" (Feb. 1, 2005). Conclusions Based on the evidence offered above, I draw the following conclusions: 1) The word "terrorism" transcends political differences and has been applied in many situations, but it has virtually always meant organized violence with some political purpose. This meaning dates from the origin of the word during the French revolution, and is the primary definition in both historical and contemporary dictionaries. It has thus been applied to combatants on all sides in the Civil War, World War I, World War II and Vietnam; to Russian revolutionaries; to the Irish Republican Army; to student radicals who blew up buildings in the 1960s; and to the September 11 hijackers. 2) Since September 11, 2001, when president Bush used "terrorism" to describe the incidents that took place on that day, the term has been applied almost exclusively to Islamic extremists who attack Americans and their allies. As a result the term is now very common in American political discourse and appears thousands of time per year in such newspapers as the New York Times. It has also acquired legal status (although there is no explicit mention of Islam) in the USA Patriot Act. 3) Since the late 1980s the term "street terrorism," which earlier meant simply "terrorism," has been applied to predominantly African-American youth street gangs such as the Crips and the Bloods whose fighting amongst themselves poses a threat to the surrounding population. This meaning has acquired legal status in California and elsewhere. 4) The Vagos, Hell's Angels and other motorcycle clubs do not meet any of these definitions of "terrorism" or "street terrorism." They do not commit organized violence for political purposes, they are not combatants in a war or revolution, they do not seek to overthrow the U. S. Government, they are not African-American youth street gangs, and they are not Muslim extremists seeking to harm Americans and their allies. Accordingly, no one has ever accused motorcycle clubs of "terrorism." A search of the New York Times and Lexis/Nexis electronic archives reveals that the terms "terrorism" and "Hell's Angels" never once were used in the same article until the above-cited report from the Los Angeles Times on March 10, 2006. 5) There is a historical tendency sometimes to ignore the established definition of "terrorism" and expand its meaning for personal or political reasons. Thus it has been applied to both management and strikers in labor disputes, and to hazing at the United States Naval Academy. Now the same tendency is occurring with respect to "street terrorism," which recently was used in a lawsuit to describe surfers fighting over choice surfing locations (the "Dirty Underwear Gang"). This tendency will probably continue, because the term "terrorism" (with or without "street") is now a powerful and easily recognizable means of suggesting evil. The motorcycle clubs, although they do not meet any of the criteria for "terrorism" or even the more recent "street terrorism," will likely be accused of terrorism in the future by law enforcement personnel who wish to label them as evildoers. 6) There is some evidence that people are indeed already beginning to associate the motorcycle clubs not only with "street terrorism" but also with actual terrorism, despite the inappropriateness of that term. A recent survey by the Canadian government reported that "participants in Ottawa, Winnipeg, Montreal, Quebec City, Regina, and Vancouver" mentioned the Hell's Angels as "being a potential terrorist group." Canada, of course, is not the United States. However, a number of Canadian authors have recently written books on the Hell's Angels that are quite popular here. It seems likely, therefore, that Americans too will begin to make the association of the motorcycle clubs, and in particular the Hell's Angels, with terrorism, however wrong this may be. Law enforcement personnel in turn will be emboldened to charge club members with "street terrorism" under local statutes, or even with "domestic terrorism" under the Patriot Act. This is regrettable for two reasons. In the first place, members of motorcycle clubs have rights, whether one likes them or not. It is wrong to use current public concerns over terrorism as an excuse to deprive them of these rights. Second, if we apply the term "terrorism" to every group that the police don't like, then we trivialize the danger posed by the actual terrorists who fly planes into buildings and execute schoolchildren.

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