Looking for the pulse of the nation, why not try to interview the thousands that converge to Sturgis South Dakota every year for the motorcycle rally – PB/TK
The world according to bikers: A Sturgis Motorcycle Rally report on the state of the union – By Samuel Blackstone / Aug 20 2017
Every August, in the city of Sturgis, South Dakota (pop. 7,000) — 30 miles east of the Wyoming border and just north of Black Hills National Forest — half a million motorcyclists descend upon the quiet hillside town for the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. Bedecked in leather and astride boisterous Harley Davidsons, riders swarm the city streets for 10 days of booze-filled revelry, flat track races, twisting rides through the Black Hills and sales of every imaginable motorcycle accessory along Main Street.
T-shirts hanging from shop doors feature Trump, seated on a motorbike outside the White House, throttling the engine to throw Hillary Clinton off the back seat, the words “If you can see this, the bitch fell off,” in thick red letters across his back.
Country, rock and rap music pump from bars into the dry plains air. Topless, painted women saunter down sidewalks, men ogling and turning as they pass for long, lustful stares. Booze pours down the mouths of riders as quick as curses pour out. Freedom, one might say, saturates the scene.
In search of the biker’s take on the state of America and the world, I meandered through downtown Sturgis last weekend on the final Saturday of the rally, interviewing anyone who was willing. I wanted to get a sense of the politics of the Harley Davidson set. During the primary, “Bikers for Trump” were a big and vocal constituency for now-President Trump. Did these bikers still feel fondly toward the administration? And what drove their politics?
Continue to salon.com article: http://www.salon.com/2017/08/20/the-world-according-to-bikers/
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