Sons of Anarchy Wikia
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Throughout the entirety of the show, race is one factor that is brought up over and over. The motorcycle clubs are strictly divided by it and the stereotypes are strong. As stated on the race page, the three main motorcycle clubs/gangs consist of The Sons of Anarchy, The Mayans, and The Grim Bastards, which consist of white men, Hispanic men, and African American men, respectively. At times throughout the show they are allies, working together against a common enemy, and at times they are each other’s enemies. Even though characters claim that the dispute between the clubs is “economic rather than racial,” it is obvious throughout the show that that is not the fact (Wayne 192). There are extremely derogatory terms used commonly in every characters vocabulary, showing that the issue is race, not social status.
One character that is extremely affected by the race issue in the show is Juice Ortiz. He has been accepted in to SAMCRO despite his Puerto Rican background. As stated above, the rules of the club upon establishment were strict against those of African American descent, but only sometimes on other races. Juice had shown loyalty and service as a prospect and was inducted, the club looking past his heritage. However, when he learns that his father is African American, he becomes extremely worried about his fate within the club (Sutter). He is unsure that the club will be able to look past this, and that he will be kicked out of the club, or worse. He thinks that the club, and specifically Clay, will believe he lied about his background and parents in order to patch into the club. He begins to act irrational, doing things on a whim and risking his life, including walking through a mine field (“Call of Duty”).
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It all begins to come to an end when he makes an attempt on his life (“Fruit for the Crows”). He decided that he would rather take it, than have it taken from him by one of his brothers. Juice believes that the rest of his club stands so true to these rules, created over 50 years ago, and would rather force their brother to meet Mister Mayhem, kill him, than break those rules. However, he fails to take his life as the tree branch that he has put the chain around snaps under the pressure of his weight. This leaves him with an extremely dark and noticeable bruise around almost the entirety of his neck. He lies and says that he ran into a cable while out in the woods on surveillance, and the club believes him for a while. When Chibs learns what he has really done, a whole new issue arises, completely forgetting about the race issue. The news gets to Jax and they continue to fear for Juice’s life, because “sons don’t kill themselves” (“Family Recipe”). Chibs then takes on Juice into more of a son role, continuing to take care of him and checking on him almost religiously every day. The issue begins to blow over and Juice devotes himself more into the club and the way of life he was so afraid to lose.