“Saying they are associating with a ‘criminal element’ because people show up from a different club who don’t have exactly a spotless record would be like saying you associated with terrorists because you were in the crowd when they bombed the Boston Marathon.”
No the bikers were sitting at table with the outlaws who were wearing their colors and patches proudly proclaiming them as such. That is a voluntary association.
Freedom means you have the right of association, but if you are a member of a defined criminal gang, you are defined as a criminal. You have the right to remain silent, all the other rights of anyone else.
If you are not a criminal, why would you hang around an outlaw gang proudly wearing their ephemera?
Just asking.
Those are the sort of issues which arise.
They are proclaiming club affiliation. Some clubs have bad reputations, some are more earned than others. I am not judge and jury. Now maybe some are 'moral' enough to offend allies for no other reason than they are afraid that their character or reputation might be compromised.
I do not have those fears.
I know who I am, and those who know me know, too. My reputation for integrity speaks for itself, among a wide social spectrum.