Buffalo Soldiers motorcycle club holds Hampton convention, spreading under-recognized history and helping others
When Ken Thomas was a Chicago police officer, a call sent him to a housing project apartment for a well-being check. He and his partner discovered two small children, but their mother was missing.
She appeared about 20 minutes later, and they learned she had been on a higher floor, planning to kill herself, Thomas said.
The officers did their best to persuade her not to, pointing out reasons for living — like her children. A year later, when Thomas saw her, she told him: “Officer Thomas, you’re my dream maker.”
The nickname “Dream Maker” stuck. It’s what Thomas still goes by in the mostly Black motorcycle club he started about 30 years ago, which now has 113 chapters in 38 states.
That organization, the National Association of Buffalo Soldiers & Troopers Motorcycle Club, held its annual convention in Hampton this week.
Helping others is core to the club’s mission, Thomas said Saturday. They also aim to tell the story of the Buffalo Soldiers — Black members of the U.S. Cavalry who protected the west as the country expanded, beginning in 1866.
The club’s members come from a wide range of professions and have an average age of 63.
“I’m so proud of these individuals,” Thomas said. “This organization gave these mature individuals something to do. It gave them something to live for.”
Nathan “Motown” Mack, the group’s president, rode his motorcycle for three days, including 18 hours in the rain, from El Paso, Texas. He said the club chose Hampton because of the need in the community. That’s one of the driving factors in the decision to pick a venue each year.
“We’re just here to help in any way we can,” he said.
More than 1,500 of the club’s several thousand members signed up for the Hampton convention. They delivered food to residents of Bay Creek Apartments, a low income housing complex, and donated $10,000 to the Virginia Peninsula Food Bank.
The Buffalo Soldiers also went to the Newport News youth detention center to speak with juveniles in a 21-day program. Mack, who said he grew up without a mother and father and was the first in his family to graduate high school, said he spoke about making good choices and doing the right thing.
And they distributed more than 550 book bags filled with pens, paper and other supplies, Mack said.
When Mack isn’t running a motorcycle club, he writes contracts for the Army. He got involved with the group 15 years ago, and says he was attracted to its positive mission and wanted to give back.
The Buffalo Soldiers name was chosen to keep alive a largely untold history. The solders were paid less than their white counterparts and their equipment was in worse condition, Mack said.
When a new member joins, they are required to learn about one of the Buffalo Soldiers, said Lawrence “Captain Hook” Van Hook, the national chaplain. And they name a toy buffalo or a bugle after the person they selected.
But the history is complicated: the Buffalo Soldiers fought Native Americans.
“They just did what they were told,” and carried out the orders of the government, Mack said. It wasn’t “something that they all wanted to do, (but) something that they had to do.”
Anybody of any race is welcome, Mack said. The club also is active in Germany, where there is interest because Buffalo Soldiers served there during World War II.
Faith is important to the group, too. Among the membership, there are many ministers and deacons who have to miss Sunday services as they travel home, Mack said. So on Saturday morning, the last programmed day of the convention, they held a bike blessing in the Hampton Roads Convention Center lot.
“We want to just bless you all in your travels,” Van Hook said.
Hampton Mayor Donnie Tuck, who attended to deliver a proclamation, thanked them for their impact on the community during the convention.
“We love having you here,” he said.
Noble Brigham, noble.brigham@virginiamedia.com
