LISTEN TO NA-KEL SHARE HIS EXPERIENCES AS A BLACK PRO SKATER

June 1, 2020/ / VIDEOS/ Comments: 49

The world is grieving the loss of yet another innocent black man killed by the cops, as protestors take to the streets across the country in memory of George Floyd, who was murdered by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Floyd, like so many others we can’t even name, did nothing to deserve his extrajudicial treatment by Chauvin and his gang of officers, who all initially faced no consequences for their clear breach of protocol. That’s American racism in action, brutal and fatal.

But racism shows up in more insidious ways as well. Take, for instance, a ridiculous display of racial privilege and profiling that happened in New York a few days before Floyd’s murder, when a white woman, Amy Cooper, called the cops on a black man, Christian Cooper, for innocently bird watching in Central Park. In the video that Christian filmed, it appears that Amy knows she’s weaponizing the same forces that killed Eric Garner in 2014, in the same place that five innocent black boys were wrongly arrested back in 1989 no less–she emphasizes “African-American” as if it were a crime.

The United States has a police problem, and the United States has a race problem, and those are an especially potent poison if you’re skin is dark. Skateboarding, as a product of America, also has a race problem, even if it’s something a lot of us would rather not hear or talk about.

Na-kel Smith doesn’t care whether you want to hear it or not. He’s black, and has to face daily discrimination of all types, even from within our beloved skate industry. He recently shared an off-the-cuff conversation he had with friends that touches on some of the shit they’ve gone through being black skaters: from being called slurs by teammates to being asked to perform racially insensitive requests from sponsors.

Throughout the 35-minute video, you can tell it’s a tough thing for these guys to talk about, which is why it’s so important for us to listen. The least we could do was amplify their voices (with permission, of course), and we urge you to hear out Nak and company in the video above.

If you’re one of those people that don’t care, well, don’t be. These are life-or-death problems to confront, and now, more than ever, we should be listening to our black friends, peers, and loved ones (only when they want to share!) as we all process and grieve the shared injustices they face.

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Comments

  1. jesus horse

    June 5, 2020 2:51 am

    Ya feel me niggas” No, we don’t Nakel is part of the problem

  2. Let's Unify

    June 5, 2020 3:00 pm

    I love Nak don’t get me wrong but he’s wrong and hypocritical in a lot of what he is saying. He admits fully that historically skateboarding was a “thing” for white people but he’s now he’s not only part of it but is very successful in it. But he points out it is “weird” for a white guy to dress black or whatever because it’s culture appropriation. Couldn’t than whites say Nak is appropriating as well then? Also he critiques those saying the n word while singing along. That is the art that was put out and is getting appreciated in its true form so how is that also weird? If it is an issue condemn the artist for putting out music laden with that word. At the end of the day this language is divisive even if you don’t realize it. We should be striving to get to a place where the color of our skin doesn’t matter.Be proud of who you are and where you’re from, there is nothing wrong with that. But if we continue to identify as black Americans, white Americans, Chinese Americans, etc. instead of just Americans period the framework for division will still remain. Also Nak should not be saying there are certain things you cannot do because your white just as no one should tell him he can’t do something cuz he’s black.

    • sk8noth8

      June 7, 2020 12:48 pm

      No disrespect or anything, but..when someone adopts the behavior of mainstream culture they are assimilating, not appropriating culture. Skateboarding itself is sort of odd, because it was never really accepted by the culture at large. It was a subculture for rejects, trouble makers, outcasts, freaks, geeks, dorks, and other unsavory folks. To be sure, a lot has changed. Anyway, I don’t think people are necessarily appropriating “white culture” (whatever that is) when they pick up a skateboard.

      Peace.

    • Ajjaa

      July 20, 2020 4:02 am

      Word!

  3. クレウ秋

    June 5, 2020 3:36 pm

    Race is fundamentally an arbitrary thing. There are no “black” or “asian,” or “white” genes – only large groups of genes that people tend to have in common, which read “black” or “asian,” or “white.” But because we *made* it a thing, now we have to deal with it as a thing. Where do we go from here? Let’s start by trying to be most excellent to each other.

  4. クレウ秋

    June 5, 2020 3:41 pm

    And also, in case anybody forgot, BLACK PEOPLE MATTER.

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