The Patriot Guard Riders rallied at the funeral of a child to protect his family from the protests of the Westboro Baptist Church.
A group of bikers from the Patriot Guard Riders put their intimidating appearance to a very good use when they attended the funeral of 9-year-old Nicholas Scott McCabe on Friday morning to protect his family from the intended protest by the Westboro Baptist Church.
This is not the first time that the biker group has stood guard against the Westboro Baptists; in fact, that is their entire purpose.
The Patriot Guard Riders are a “national organization of motorcycle enthusiasts created to oppose the Westboro Baptist Church, who attend funerals to honor fallen US military personnel.” The Westboro Baptists also picket funerals of natural disaster victims, and so when an anonymous biker reached out to the Patriot Guard Riders, they came to honor him.
Reddit user hestonkent is extremely grateful for the group’s ethic and dedication. He posted, “The patriot guard riders did this exact same thing when WBC tried to protest my great grandfathers funeral (also killed in an Oklahoma tornado in ardmore). I cant thank them enough for what they do.”
Whether because of the good-hearted bikers or some other reason, the Westboro Baptists did not show up to protest at the boy’s funeral, much to the relief of the family.
Top Photo: darsilamaos/Reddit
Feature Photo: WBCFliers/Twitter
I would never overtly wish bodily harm to anyone. I’m just reminded of moments in history where biker groups provided security. Just thinking aloud about the Stones concert at Altamont in ’69. Hopefully the Westboro protestors will not be as rowdy, for their own sake.
Judging all bikers (or even Hell’s Angels – the biker group at Altamont) by the actions of some of them, is as short sighted as judging any other group. Try replacing the word “bikers” with “muslim” or “arab” or “people of colour”, and see how it sounds. The death of Meredith Hunter was ruled to be self defense. At the time he was stabbed, he was trying to attack either the security or the Rolling Stones with a revolver. The basic difference between the actions of the Hells Angel who killed him and a police officer was to do so… Read more »
And yet, I’m sure the biker group at the funeral benefits somewhat from this stereotype about bikers. Are you suggesting there’s absolutely no intimidation factor in the appearance of a biker group here?
If there were no stereotypes about bikers then this would not be a news story, and they would not be as effective at discouraging aggressive protest. Surely if this group were just like any other civic-minded group, then why not use one of those other civic-minded groups? If the reputation is unearned, unfair, and deserves to be destroyed, then this should be a non-story.
Westboro Baptist is clearly an organization designed to discredit conservative Christianity, maybe to discredit all organized religion. I can only understand its behavior as some sort of radical smear campaign to encourage the separation of church and state. (If so, it’s doing a brilliant job!) If I wanted to make religion look really regressive, insane, and dangerous, I’d do exactly what that congregation is doing.
For a while I thought the Westboro Baptist Church was pulling the biggest troll ever, that they were just a bunch of would-be comedians trying to get attention by pushing buttons in a most offensive way when people’s emotions were raw and things we hold sacred as a culture are attacked (children, soldiers, etc.) Then a few months ago there was an interview on the Today show (I think) with a granddaughter of Fred Phelps, who left his “church.” She described a world where she was not allowed to wear makeup or jewelry, watch TV, listen to the radio, or… Read more »