Race and Counter Culture- Liz Vieira
The riders were driven out of town by people who didn't like them, in fact they couldn't even eat in the restaurant because locals didn't like the way they looked. Such attitudes are similar to those imposed upon Blacks who couldn't eat in certain restaurants or were hassled by whites who just didn't like how they looked. One of the riders comments that it "used to be a hell of a good country" which functions ironically in the context of a racial reading of the scene. For Blacks, it never really was a good country.
The pimp/ slave structure Costello sets up also creates an interesting paradox with the racial reading of this scene. Costello aligns the easy riders with pimps who reign over money slaves, inverting the historical slave structure.
If George had been Black, the film might be different only in that Wyatt and Billy might have been seen as "more" counter-culture. Since counter culture was about rejecting prominent ideologies and befriending those of other races rejects the dominant racist ideas, George's race could have deepened the counter culture values.