Club Ties

Sons of Anarchy had been condemned for showing the club working with clubs of other races. In the very early stages of the show, there was a prominent reluctance to work with any other club, let alone anyone that wasn’t white. As the show progressed and reached a stage where Jax became president and was adamant that the club was going ‘legit’, he began to create ties with several other groups: The One Niners, an African American gang that becomes central to the narrative in season four; The Mayans, a Hispanic Motorcycle gang that were originally arch rivals of the Sons’, they then became close allies as the series came to a close; The Galindo Cartel, based in the Mexican state of Sonora, their lieutenant, Romeo, is an undercover CIA operator who needed the Sons’ cooperation, in return he will help quash a RICO case against the club; and The Lin Triad a Chinese-American crime syndicate. Their relationships with each of these groups ‘defies the mentality of many motorcycle club members’ (Sartore, 2018). Whilst the partnership makes for ‘good’ television, as it suits modern notions of equality. It lacks the realistic element that surrounds traditional biker gangs’ intolerance of others, iconographic tattoos encompassing neo-Nazi and white supremacists were not uncommon. They did signify this with a Nazi group in the show, but the Sons’ used them and what they had to offer rather than working with them on an ‘equal’ basis.

Similarly, the beginning of season 4 shows the sheriff revealing that Juice (Juan Ortiz) is half black and he then uses it to blackmail Juice into revealing the club’s intentions. One of the significant rules that the club had was that club members could not be black, this as a result causes him to follow a path of destruction where he murders a fellow member who finds out about his betrayal of the club. This leads him to his suicide attempt, suicide being another ‘sin of the club’. He then confides in his fellow club member and friend Chibs. Chibs has a black wife and a biracial daughter which he explains to be ‘different’.(Sons of Anarchy, 2011). He assures him that he is fine as his paperwork says that he is Hispanic. 

This highlights a ‘racial hierarchy’ (Jacques, 2003) where it is acceptable to be a certain race over others, despite it being the 21^st century and there is a constant focus on the movements that tackle racism through all aspects of life. So being faced with such a harsh representation of different ethnicities is no surprise. This also makes the show seem incredibly relevant to highlight the bitter reality that many may face. The continued importance of exposing discrimination may contribute to the success of the show as it shows that it is not afraid to tackle such real issues. Moreover, this could have been done to appeal to a more contemporary audience as there is a greater desire to strive for racial equality. This potentially could show a means to manipulate perceived realism that plays on the modern equality beliefs and allows them to respond to the text as if it was real.