Essay: “I Refuse to Apologize for Who I Am” - by Shaheed Shaw

  Picture this. It’s the 1980’s. Skateboarding is more popular than ever. The number of people involved is steadily rising. 

You’re 15 years old, a misfit in most regards who’s become fascinated with the sport. You give it your all and completely ingrain yourself in the culture surrounding it, only for the general public to suddenly reject you and everything you stand for. 

You feel angry, alienated with no place to turn. In retaliation you take to skating the streets, showcasing the freedom that drew you to skateboarding in the first place. However, in doing so you unknowingly create disorder within your community, drawing even more attention to yourself in the process.[2]

Laws are enacted to regulate your behaviour but you value creativity, rejecting control and conformity and opposing these policies at every turn.[3] You may receive a hefty fine every time you violate one of them but, in the end, you’ve never felt freer. As you ride down the street you can’t help but think: what is it about skateboarding that makes it so wrong? 

Now jump ahead to the present day. 

Skateboarding has grown beyond an outsider subculture and has developed an overwhelming amount of mainstream appeal. Converse, Vans, Thrasher—corporate brands typically associated with skate culture— are now fashion statements worn by a large portion of the populace. Skateboarding is now more popular than ever, even being added to the 2020 Olympic games lineup.[4] Things are going great, or so it appears. 

But there’s still a large stigma associated with skaters and skate culture.[5] What’s more, many states still have laws restricting skateboarding itself with no potential amendments planned in the near future.[6] Why would they? Fixing these laws would only result in them losing control of skaters, something that they fought so hard to gain only a few decades prior.

The Rise of Skate Culture

While it’s true that skateboarding is now more acceptable than ever, it wasn’t always this way. When skateboarding was first invented it started off as part of the surf culture present in California.[7]

This group comprised of white males, typically from upper-middle class families, who wanted to recreate the experience of surfing while on land. To accomplish this they created make-shift skateboards out of wooden boxes and roller skates, using them to “sidewalk surf.”[8]

A few years later, skateboards as we know them were invented and the practice started to grow within the surfing community, becoming a staple for many in situations where surfing wasn’t possible.[9]

However, through this invention, a divide was created within surf culture that eventually led many skaters to break off from it and form their own group.[10] This became what is now known as skate culture. A subculture built around a rebellious, non-conformist attitude that was steeped in punk and was all about opposing authority.[11]

This didn’t sit well with the community, especially because the skating crowd at the time was associated with rising crime and drug rates. To counteract this, many states decided to place limitations on skating and, in rare cases, outright ban it from being performed on the streets.[12]

Controlling Skateboarders 

With regards to these restrictions, while there’s a wide range the majority revolve around limiting the time, manner and location that people can skate at, taking away the freedom that many skaters seek.[13] Furthermore, many states dictate that you must wear complete protective equipment while skating, regardless of whether you’re skating on public or private property.[14]

Looking at specific examples, in Alabama it’s illegal to skate in commercially-zoned areas; that is any place designated for use by businesses.[15] On the surface, this appears to be a law designed to protect businesses from disruptions when operating and property damage.[16] However, the vague terminology used also makes skating in the nearby infrastructure illegal as well, such as parking lots which are an ideal spot for practicing flat-ground tricks.

In Ohio, there is a law which prohibits “rid[ing] a skateboard within the city limits after daylight hours.”[17] Moreover, it’s also illegal to skate on city streets and roadways.[18] All together, this makes finding a spot to skate in Ohio extremely hard and essentially bans skateboarding without making the act illegal outright. 

While these laws vary across states they all share one thing in common: regulating the actions of skateboarders within the community.[19]

Control vs. Neoliberalism: A Claim to Public Space

This is an important issue because the basic premise, over-regulation, is contradictory to the societal shift that took place in the United States at this time—the shift to neoliberalism. 

By definition, neoliberalism refers to the economic shift towards privatization and the glorification of the so-called free market.[20]It’s the withdrawal of redistributive interventions by the state.[21] In essence, it calls for self-regulation rather than regulation by the government.

In the context of skateboarding this is an issue because skaters are still heavily regulated outside of skate parks.[22]Rather than granting them the same amount of freedom as other sports, the state polices them heavily and treats them like criminals for daring to skate. So why is this the case?

Because skateboarders blur the line between public and private spaces, going against the basic rules of what they can and cannot be used for.[23]

Through the act of skating, these individuals make claims to areas that are supposed to be available to everyone equally.[24]What’s more, they reconceptualize these areas to meet their own needs and, while in line with neoliberalism and its ideals, this goes against social convention.[25] As a result, the government did, and continues to do, something that it never should have: attempt to control skateboarders by criminalizing skateboarding. 

By creating and enforcing these unnecessary restrictions, the government only reinforce the aspects of skating that it abhors: non-conformist and oppositional attitudes. 

Hope for the Future

In the late 1980’s there was a popular slogan “skateboarding is not a crime.” It arose because of the many injustices that were done to skateboarders at the time and served as one of many ways for people to fight back against them. 

 In recent times, skateboarding has entered the mainstream and is widely accepted. However, it’s still regarded as a crime in many states across America and is heavily regulated as a result. 

While this is the case, many skateboarders continue to skate the streets, regardless of the many fines that they accumulate because, in the end, regardless of how they may appear, skaters continue to skate for one reason. Because they enjoy it. 

References      

Board Blazers. 2016. Weird Skateboarding Laws in the United States. Retrieved February 15^th2018. https://boardblazers.com/blogs/all/115218630-fi-weird-skateboarding-laws-in-the-united-states

Borden, Iain. 2001. “Skateboarding, Space and the City: Architecture and the Body”. OxfordPress.

Chiu, Chihsin. 2009. "Contestation and Conformity."Space and Culture12(1):25-42

FindALaw.com. 2018. Skateboarding Laws. Retrieved January 25^th2018. (http://traffic. findlaw.com/traffic-tickets/skateboarding-laws.html)

Harvey, David. 2005 “A Brief History of Neoliberalism”. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Howell, Ocean. 2008. "Skatepark as Neoliberal Playground."Space and Culture11(4):475-496

Irvine, Simon and Sophie Taysom. 1998. "Skateboarding: Disrupting the City."Social Alternatives17(4):23-26

Marcus, Ben. 2011. “The Skateboard: The Good, the Rad, and the Gnarly: An Illustrated History”. MVP Books. 

O'Connor, Paul. 2016. "Skateboarding, Helmets, and Control."Journal of Sport and Social Issues40(6):477-498

Seifert, T. and C. Hedderson. 2010. "Intrinsic Motivation and Flow in Skateboarding: An Ethnographic Study."Journal of Happiness Studies11(3):277-292

USLegal.com. 2018. “Skateboarding Laws and Legal Definition”. Retrieved January 25, 2018. (https://definitions.uslegal.com/s/skateboarding/)

Weyland, Jocko. 2002. “The Answer Is Never: A Skateboarder's History of the World”. Grove Press.