Dirt bike culture in Baltimore is woven into the culture of Resistance within the city. It has survived crackdown after crackdown, each time reorganizing and coming back stronger than before. The Pack continues to survive in an environment that was designed to see them gone.
Recently, dirt bike riders have come under intense attack by the Baltimore Pig Department. This comes after a Baltimore Pig got themselves injured after instigating and escalating an interaction with a rider.
BPD claims it does not chase dirt bike riders. Riders, witnesses and videos from the street show the opposite: police instigate, corner, ram and pursue riders, then blame any injuries on the people they attacked.
The Pigs create their own consent to break the law in order to go after people whose only crime is having fun while being Black.
The Baltimore Pig Department has, in a sense, declared war on the Pack and its supporters. Nearly every day, BPD social media is updated with posts showing off seized bikes and parts and threats to store and gas station owners not to help riders in any way. The pigs occupy gas stations, corner stores, restaurants, parking lots, fields and neighborhoods in an attempt to intimidate, isolate and go after riders. Videos have circulated of Pigs once again using their vehicles as battering rams. They charge into dirt bike riders in an attempt to get the rider to crash.
And it isn’t just city Pigs that are doing all this. Baltimore County Police are also attacking and chasing riders. Together, hundreds of thousands of dollars in city money are being spent by the police in a manner that actually makes the community less safe.
When the dirt bikes ride, riders often halt traffic so the whole group can pass, rotating the job from rider to rider. Drivers see the same basic pattern in funeral processions, car caravans and group rides with hazard lights on. But when young Black riders do it, the city treats it as a police emergency.
BPD’s violent chases have led to multiple injuries and at least one fatality. They will say that they don’t give chase and that these casualties are caused by the rider’s actions, but video recordings and eyewitness reports quickly show the truth against the lies of the police.
It is the dirt bike community that gives the city’s youth a way to turn passion into skill. While the city cracks down on bikes, spare parts, gasoline and the riders themselves, the culture still finds ways to hold youth sessions where younger riders can learn and ride safely. Riders teach newer riders how to spot mechanical problems and fix bikes. Kids still rush out of their homes to give high fives and cheer when the pack comes down their block.
The Pack and the culture of dirt bike riding haven’t retreated in the face of this increased oppression. Hundreds of riders still find their way to meet-up spots every day and take to the city streets, reclaiming territory that was lost to racist redlining and forced removal. Recently, a group of riders forced the Pig department to retreat from a lot they were attempting to occupy in Park Heights. Hundreds of riders surrounded the officers, who had no other option but to retreat and call for backup as the gathering of riders took off on their weekly Sunday ride.
The Pack faces the full extent of the Pig’s tools out in the streets. Helicopters and drone surveillance, CCTV cameras, the Citi-Watch systems and crazed killer pigs both on foot and behind the wheel. In the face of all this, they continue to organize, they continue to ride, and they continue to show that the streets belong to the People, not the Pigs. Power to the Pack, and continue to drive over the redlines!
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