NY times finds out minority kids are skating

[opiin]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/f...ewanted=1&ref=fashion&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

After reading this underlying racist and extremely late article about the convergenceof skateboarding in the "urban" market it seems that these days those who are slowly wallowing their way to irrelevance (thanks to Wordpress,Blogspot, etc) are trying to latch on to youth culture in ways that were previously shuddered in order to attract new readership.

Yes, there are Black kids skating. But actually they have been for a while, way before the God of mediocre action sports validation Pharrell dubbed himselfSkateboard P. Ever heard of Thrasher or TransWorld Skateboarding? Then again, if you've never been part of the culture, you'dprobably think that skate's best representation falls somewhere between Tony Hawk's Project 8 and The Lords of Dogtown.

You do get props for Wikipediaing the requisite Black skaters like Ray Barbee, Kareem Campbell and Stevie Williams, but you lose for not going outside forthe last 20 years and actually see that kids of all colors in the inner cities have been skating in drained pools and throughout the streets. Skateboarding hasa relatively low cost of entry and therefore that's why many impoverished minorities find it such as easy sport to take part it. All things being equal, afully set up deck is less than a pair of new Jordans. Any kid in line for sneakers can drop that gem on you.

Oh and did you know…

Statistics from a 1998 survey by Transworld Skateboarding Magazine report participation in skateboarding is roughly even across all income levels. The report shows that 34% of skaters where under the $35,000 income level, with a full 19% under the $20,000 mark, and even about half of those were under the $10,000 annual income mark.


Hopefully all those big numbers didn't hurt your head. But we're sure you can infer the obvious from that ten-year-old survey.

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[binkabinkabinka]

haha

 

[torgriffith]

always trying to keep folks divided...the media really needs to be more responsible instead of just writing for a paycheck..

 

[dirtylicious]

call me naive...but how is it racist?

and mainstream media is always notoriously late on trends...so that shouldn't be surprising

 

[opiin]

Originally Posted by Dirtylicious

call me naive...but how is it racist?

and mainstream media is always notoriously late on trends...so that shouldn't be surprising

They're stereotyping skaters. And you're naive.

 

[flydaily]

i used to read transworld skateboarding magazine back in middle school......is it still around?

 

[dirtylicious]

They're stereotyping skaters.
how though?.....by saying that it's increased in appeal to blacks in major cities?.

I dunno about you...but 5 yrs ago...kids weren't skating on Fort Washington Ave underneath the GWB Port Authority...it's only been the past few yearsthat I've seen kids skating there at night.

I understand being irked about them being late...I just dont' see what's so underlyingly racist.... so help me understand...since I'm so naive

 

[opiin]

Black skaters have been around since skating itself, they just were overlooked because they weren't that many of them around. And who skates the portAuthority? Try the Brooklyn Banks 20 yrs ago. Kids been skating that since the dawn of time. And yes Transworld is still alive.

 

[calhoun0206]

SMH at some of the media

 

[size twelve]

Skateboard P

pharrell can't skate.

 

[mangudai954]

i used to read transworld skateboarding magazine back in middle school......is it still around?

Yes sir.

 

[wawaweewa]

Originally Posted by Opiin

Black skaters have been around since skating itself, they just were overlooked because they weren't that many of them around. And who skates the port Authority? Try the Brooklyn Banks 20 yrs ago. Kids been skating that since the dawn of time. And yes Transworld is still alive.

You've contradicted your own point.

The article is talkingabout how skating has increased in popularity in the black community. Although they are a few years late the notion isn't wrong by any means. There werevery few Black Americans in skateboarding and it wasn't popular amongst Black youth.

 

[willis03]

NY Times must be running out of material.

 

[cheamayn23]

Black skaters have been around since skating itself, they just were overlooked because they weren't that many of them around.

Now they're not overlooked because there are more around and an article is made about it...what's so surprising?

 

[prurientsole]

they weren't that many of them
And now they're growing in number.

That was the point of the article.

And the "underlying racism" claim...

Ignorance? Yes. Racism? Not even close.

 

[everysingletime]

Originally Posted by cheaMayn23

Black skaters have been around since skating itself, they just were overlooked because they weren't that many of them around.

Now they're not overlooked because there are more around and an article is made about it...what's so surprising?

Exactly. Sometimes people reach too much

 

[thecoldest343]

Black skaters have been around since skating itself, they just were overlooked because they weren't that many of them around.
Right and fact of the theres money is involved now their really going to shine the light on the subject,"blacks and skating".

Its not that big of a deal,they were skating,bmxing,dirt biking in the burbs,well so were we in the projects.

In some places we just didn't have that nice smooth concretesurface,we had cracks,gravel,uneven sidewalks,I busted my*##@ many times on rollerblades,wheeling and building ramps out of wooden board & two bricks.

now they have skate parks.....

 

[alejanz28]

I busted my*##@ many times on rollerblades,wheeling and building ramps out of wooden board & two bricks.



i still have bruises on my body from the 80s and early 90s when i use skate in the hood. It wasnt so much a sport back then as it was a means fortransportation for me and my homeboys.

 

[nolan3001]

Are you Satchel from www.satchelofgravel.com?

If you're not him, you should probably credit that you took that whole diatribe word for word from there. If you are him...I like the site.

 

[buggz05]

tag: saw pharrell

 

[142rocaway]

Al I'm gonna say is R.I.P Blacc Rob, & Harold hunter and I picced up skating when I was younger...$%$# the trends nowadays

 

[niketalker23]

nm..