With regard to the mass arrests:
A motorcycle club’s ‘colors’ can refer to either the back patch worn by club members or the dominant color combination on those back patches.
A ‘patch’ can refer to either a back patch or a ‘cut patch’ (aka: ‘cut’). A cut was originally a cut-off piece of a back patch that was given to a non-member as a recognition that the receiver was ‘OK’ and/or a friend of a member. The ‘cut’ has since evolved into a separate smaller patch with some kind of logo and club colors.
An ‘affiliated club’ may or may not be a ‘prospect club’. A ‘prospect club’ is one that is directly connected to the major club and has a similar connotation to the ‘junior varsity’ where potential members and wannabes are sorted out.
Only club members wear a back patch. Folks with a cut patch are not members of the club nor are they ‘prospects’. They’re just random folks who know somebody in a club.
(Please note that I may be bit out of date on these terms but only by a decade or so.)
= = = = = =
What the Waco cops have done is to grab anyone ‘patched’ or ‘cut’ claiming that wearing either shows ‘gang membership’ and that is simply not true. They’re relying on the ignorance and bias of the public to get away with a major civil rights violation.
So, we have a situation where the Waco police have arrested a bunch of folks based on their clothing accessories and in violation of the First Amendment gurantees of freedom to assemble and freedom of expression.
Where they might have justification for patched club members involved in the fighting, there is no justification for arresting folks with only a cut patch.
Very well put.
>>> .... They’re relying on the ignorance and bias of the public to get away with ....
Don’t forget public ‘indifference’.
Although it is a different matter, how else do you explain ‘Benghazi’?
The old man told me years ago, careful who you associate with.