One of the things we have to clarify a lot is, “Are you a Jewish Club?” And the answer is No. And kind of Yes. Here’s the deal. We started as a group of Jewish bikers who were running into one another at Jewish Federation and other social events in LA, OC, and San Diego. One of the first things we talked about when we decided to organize was the question of whether we wanted a Jewish club or not. And no, we really didn’t. There are plenty of Jewish groups/clubs, pretty much none of whom take the lifestyle seriously. What we did want was a Jewish-friendly club, a place where anyone who was Jewish would feel safe, not threatened or intimidated. We also wanted to really emphasize that we are not the the stereotypical Jew who doesn’t want to stand up for themselves or their family and friends. We’ve all known those Jews who just take the snide comments in stride, who just accept the little antisemitic comments and attitudes because they don’t want to rock the boat. That wasn’t going to be us. Fuck anyone who has a problem with Jews.
So we went with a Jewish-based approach to organizing our Club. Our symbology, patch, colors are based on Jewish identity and tradition. But we are open to anyone. Consider, when we think about genocide, most people automatically go straight to thinking about the Holocaust, as a Jew, I certainly do. But we are not the only ones to have suffered, even just in recent memory. The Armenians, Tamils, Chechens, Nigerians, Uyghurs, even right here in the United States there were genocides against the Native Americans, particularly in California during the mid to late 1800’s. Every single one of these, and the countless others throughout history have been wrong and are straight out evil. And it’s something we stand against, any form of hate, and we represent that through our Jewish imagery.
So yes, we are Jewish-based. We are a safe place for any Jewish man who wants to find a place in our lifestyle. But we are not a Jewish club because every man who enjoys our lifestyle, is welcome. We don’t discriminate against religion (or lack thereof), against race, nationality, or political standing. We won’t tolerate hate, we won’t tolerate prejudice in any form. If you’re a good man, you’ll find a home here.
-Ewok