One of the odder things I have discovered since moving to downtown Long Beach … is the clear popularity of skateboarding among non-white teens and pre-teens.
Latino and, especially, black kids are riding skateboards all over the place.
This is interesting. Curious. Because I had never thought of skateboarding as anything but a white-kid — and particularly a white suburban-kid — activity.
Maybe I just didn’t know, or hadn’t heard. But non-white kids are riding skateboards all over downtown Long Beach. They’re more likely to be on skateboard than bicycles, and it isn’t close.
Generally, most cultural trends, especially in the kid age group, seem to begin in minority communities and then trend into suburbia. Thinking music, jargon, fashion here.
Not this time. In a major switch, skateboarding’s hipness started among anglo kids and now has moved into the greater population.
I don’t see as many inner-city kids trying to do weird tricks with their boards … not as many as I would in white suburbua. Where trick jumping off ramps or other bits of altitude seem to be a big part of the skateboarding experience. But they sure as heck ride them.
When that became cool, in the Inner City, at least in this town, I don’t know. But it clearly isn’t recent and I can guarantee you … it isn’t just a few kids rolling down the streets.
Interesting.
7 responses so far ↓
1 Surprised // Jul 14, 2008 at 9:28 AM
Um hello? I can’t figure out whether this entry smacks of racism or ignorance, not the exactly the kind of stuff I usually read in this blog. I was certainly surprised when I read it.
What are the Latino kids supposed to be doing n your opinion? Playing with a deflated soccer ball? Kicking a tin can while eating lead-filled candy? Or picking up bottles and cans with their parents?
Welcome to the 21st century Paul.
2 Guy McCarthy // Jul 14, 2008 at 7:36 PM
Lighten up Surprised.
I grew up in mixed-race DC, northeast and southeast, and by the mid-70s most of my friends black and white were skateboarding madly down Capitol Hill and the steeps on Wisconsin Avenue, running red lights, fingering cabbies, fleeing cops.
Does that mean everybody else who didn’t grow up like I did is ignorant or racist? Hell no.
You read too much into this. Nobody in this world sees everything, and each of us sometimes turns a corner and sees something that strikes us like – Wow, where have I been? I didn’t realize.
You inject the negatives here yourself. Shame on you for casting stones, anonymous to boot.
3 Surprised // Jul 15, 2008 at 2:35 PM
Oh Guy! Save the shame talk and admonishments for daytime TV, audiences love that stuff!
This is what the comment section is for, to express our thoughts and feelings about these posts. Sometimes in life, others will have opinions that differ from your own. Bummer we can’t control everyone, huh?
If Paul wants to delete my comment he can, that’s the beauty of the online blog. But that doesn’t change how I feel nor do I see the need to defend my view.
4 Guy McCarthy // Jul 15, 2008 at 5:22 PM
We’re on the same page when it comes to freedom of expression. My bad in the previous post for suggesting otherwise.
5 Luis Bueno // Jul 15, 2008 at 5:50 PM
I agree with Paul’s entry. I’m Mexican-American and growing up I don’t remember many of my fellow Mexican-American friends taking up skateboarding. When we were in middle and high school, it was always the white kids who were into that. And nice of Surprised to drop in some ethnic stereotypes there, with references to poverty and such. I mean, what Mexican-American kid worth their salt hasn’t kicked around a deflated soccer ball or gone collecting cans because that’s all we know how to do, right?
6 Surprised // Jul 16, 2008 at 1:16 AM
For the record, I am Mexican, too. And the stereotypes I wrote about were exactly that – stereotypes. Wake up and smell the sarcasm.
7 Guy McCarthy // Jul 16, 2008 at 11:57 AM
Surprised, you still need to lighten up.
If that doesn’t suit you, harness your energy and write your own piece about skateboarding stereotypes. Write about racism, ignorance and sarcasm too, since you introduced all three to this discussion.
Put your real name on it and link to it. Go for it.
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