Hello My Fellow Boarders, Riders and Women in Action Sports,
It’s Richie P. I’m a 20-something skateboarder of West Indian/Caribbean heritage from East Flatbush, Brooklyn, NY. My infatuation with skateboarding started as a child while watching my older brother skateboard. I thought it was cool, but never really connected
girl
and
skateboarding
. At the time, my only experience with skateboarding was sitting on
my brother's board while he pushed me down our rough concrete drive-way.
After my brother died, I picked up his skateboard one day and started messing around with it. From that point, I dug deeper into skateboarding culture.
I remember one day back in ’04 buying Check It Out Magazine (a short-lived girl’s skateboarding magazine) at Barnes n’ Nobles. I remember thinking to myself “
girls do this?
” I was instantly hooked and became more interested in learning new tricks. I guess it was also coping mechanism that turned into a something I liked doing (as well as, art, music and writing). I officially started skating the same year and there were no girls (or boys) in my neighborhood who skated and none of African descent. However, the people I encountered never believed that girls could skateboard, especially not a black girl.
For instance, random people would approach me with the most annoying questions "You skateboard? Um you can't skateboard...Is that your skateboard?" My initial sarcastic teen response (in my mind...haha) would be "u
hhhh, no it's actually an accessory to my outfit."
Though I would proudly reply "Y
es, it's my skateboard
" and do a trick to change their perception.
Many women skaters can also attest to being approached with other ludicrous questions such as
,
“No way, really?” “Can you ride that
?”
Such questions allude some ignorance about the presence of black women in skateboarding and actions sports, because women of African descent do exist in this space. So in 2012, I created BLACK SKATER CHICK as a project to diminish stereotypes and challenge the dominant narratives (and discourse) about who is actually involved in skateboarding (and action sports). Therefore, the mission of the
BLACK SKATER CHICK project to connect people to learning about women of African descent in skateboarding and extreme sports.
Overall, I love what female boarders have done in the past to highlight women in extreme sports. So I would like to thank the following organizations and projects, you inspired me: Villa Villa Cola (and the team from Getting Nowhere Faster, I still watch it after all these years), All Girls Skate Jam, Girls Learn to Ride, TheSideProject, Burton Women’s Team, Nikita Snowboarding, Etnies Girl…etc.
Now almost a decade later, I still try out new tricks and cruise around my longboard. I also enjoy snowboarding.
Thanks for reading my bio and spread the word about BLACK SKATER CHICK!
Sincerely,
Richie P. (February 12, 2012)
Circa '06
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