Kenneth Thomas and Nathan Mack - Buffalo Soldiers Motorcycle Club Visits Tampa

A group described as the largest African-American motorcycle club is holding its annual convention in Tampa this week. Kenneth Thomas, a former police officer, founded the National Association of Buffalo Soldiers and Troopers Motorcycle Club in 1987. He and current national president Nathan Mack talk about how the club and some three thousand attendees will be doing charity work during their stay.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Gordon Bird here with Beyond the News. This is convention season for Florida and
for the Tampa Bay area. Agroup identified as the largest African American motorcycle
club in the world is having itsannual national convention in Tampa the week of
July twenty third through the thirtieth,the National Association of Buffalo Soldiers and Troopers

(00:20):
Motorcycle Club. They're also going tobe involved in several charitable events around town.
We're speaking with the group's founder,Kenneth Thomas, his ride name is
Dreammaker, and national president Nathan Mackhis ride name is Motown. Gentlemen,
thank you very much for joining uson Beyond the News. Thank you for
having thank you are great to behere now. First, if you could

(00:43):
give us a little background about yourorganization. You obviously have a tie to
history, and tell us about whatyou do in the various charitable causes and
efforts that you're involved with around thecountry. Well, I started organization in
nineteen eighty seven here in Chicago,Illinois. I was an active police officer,

(01:07):
and I just felt that there wereso many individuals out within the nation
who would love to be a partof something positive and also the name Buffalo
Soldiers, the history behind it.We honored the nineteenth Cavalry. That's the
reason why I started this club.So with that, we like to get

(01:34):
into it and arrived, educate,reserve the community, get into it,
and get into taking care of people, taking care of Peter the fo.
Now, during your convention in Tampa, which is going on July twenty third
through the thirtieth, you're going tobe involved in a number of activities and

(01:56):
you're bringing that effort in terms ofcharity and public service into Tampa and helping
out to some of our neighbors herein the region. Tell us about what
you're going to be doing this weekduring your national convention. So on the
Monday, the twenty fourth, we'reactually going to have a block party to
go out and be the community atColdonan's Barbecue, and people who show up,

(02:22):
we're gonna feed them and gonna havea good time out there just interacting
with the community. And that startsoff our week. We're letting everybody know
that we're in town. And thenon Tuesday, we're sponsoring forty kids to
go to Butcher Gardens. We haveforty chaperons that's going to go with them,
and our sponsor for that is actuallygoing to provide a Lamborghini so that

(02:45):
the kids can take pictures and youknow, do things that they've never been
able to do. And then onWednesday, we're gonna visit Tampa Hope.
And when we go to Tampa Hope, we're going to actually take totaltaries out
to the homeless community. And thenmy faith service team is actually going to
put on a performance with two localchoirs right there in the Tampa Hope areas.
So that's what we're going to doas far as Tampa Hope. And

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then on Saturday, we will goand give back fifteen hundred bookbags that will
be bullet supplies and will go outand ride through the community and drop those
book bags off at two elementary schools. Now, your organization has been around,

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as you mentioned, since the nineteeneighties, and how in that time,
how many people are you expecting tobring here to the Tampa area for
your national convention roughly when it's allsaid and done, bringing about three thousand
people to come and work two communityservice. Obviously, you've been around,

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as I mentioned, since the nineteeneighties, and as you mentioned, the
h in that span of time,you've been involved in obviously a lot of
charitable activities, a lot of communityactivities. Is there one from that long
stretch that you can point to andsay, this is truly a great achievement,
This is something that the organization hashad a major role in contributing and

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making people's lives better. Well,I don't think it's just one particular thing.
We actually are involved in a lotof things, from building new horns,
hurricane relief, taking care of kids, backpacks, providing events that support

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autism, so single sale. Soit's nothing just one thing, no one
thing in general, just a lotof just doing good in the hood,
as we call it. I knowthat everybody who lives in Florida is grateful
for any kind of help that isavailable in terms of hurricane relief, and
so that's that's certainly definitely appreciated aroundthese parts. Oh yeah, we're glad

(05:14):
to do it. We're glad todo it. Now. This being a
motorcycle organization, I am assuming thatthere's going to be a moment at which
there's going to be a procession ofmotorcycles coming through Tampa, and that's usually
a pretty impressive site. So I'massuming that that's going to be the case
here. Yes, and we'll haveover roughly around four hundred bikes. Would

(05:40):
be more, but we had tocut it off because we won't have the
police support or holding traffic. Sowe'll have up a four hundred bikes and
then we'll go into two different schoolsand drop off those supplies of ride to
the community. Now, your visithere to the Tampa Bay Area and to
Florida comes at a time when Floridais in the news for a lot of

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things, and some of which arecontroversial. Several groups, including the NAACP,
have called for people not to travelto Florida because of various reasons.
In particular, they're concerned about issuessuch as the teaching of black history and
diversity, equity and inclusion programs.Obviously, your group booked here well in

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advance. Were there any second thoughtsabout Tampa after that call and some of
the controversies in the news, anddoes this influence the possibility of returning to
Florida for future conventions. Well,let me answer that. First of all,
we know that those subjects are importantto the NACP and to our community

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in general, but we feel thatgiving back to the community is more important.
It is important for us as anorganization to go in and help you
the seniors and do whatever we canto enhance their lives and to make it
better for them. So, yes, the other subjects that the nap NAACP

(07:17):
has stated, it still doesn't deterus from going into the various communities that
we have to go into. Andas Motown said, we do good in
the hood and people look forward tothat. We're certainly looking forward to your
visit and to the visit of yourthree thousand members and perhaps associated family as

(07:44):
well, and we hope that youcertainly have a good time and you're able
to do good here in the TampaBay area. We're looking forward to it.
We're looking forward to it, andthe people are expecting us to be
there to help them certain situations.So that's what we're going to do.
We're speaking with the Kenneth Dreammaker Thomasand Nathan Motown mac. They are the

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founder and the national president of theNational Association of Buffalo Soldiers and Troopers motorcycle
Club, identified as the largest AfricanAmerican motorcycle club in the world, having
their national convention July twenty third throughthe thirtieth in Tampa and participating in a
number of charitable events to help theTampa community. Gentlemen, thank you both

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for joining us on beyond the News. Thank you