Wind in their face, emblems on their backs, and the open road ahead.
“I feel like a rock star. Respect, love, loyalty. We have it all,” said James “Maintnaz” Sims.
For nearly half a century, the soulful riders have cruised highways and byways near and far.
Although Black motorcycle clubs have been around for decades across the country, this band of brothers is one of the oldest existing groups in the state.
“This club coming out of the civil rights era.. the 60s, 70s, right on even up until now. I wanted something to basically mirror my people, said Isaac “Chico” Griffin, Founder and National Commander of the Soulful Riders Motorcycle Club. “And Soulful during that time, anything that involved soul was mentioning Black people. So, us being Black people, soulful is the way I wanted to be looked at, and the fact that we rode motorcycles– we’re riders.”
Believe or not, for as long as they’ve been around, this is their first time in the media spotlight.
“Being a Black entity…. we’ve never done anything wrong to get into the news. We don’t characterize ourselves as the ‘bad guys’. We are blessed to not have ever lost a member through violence. We’ve never had any beefs with any other club across the country. So, we get lost in the shuffle if we don’t make the news.”
