We are seniors at Loma Linda Academy in Loma Linda, Ca, and this is part of a project we are doing for our Government class. Our assignment was to address a topic that is controversial and to research it for a class presentation. We chose as our topic skateboarder harassment. This decision was due mainly to our personal familiarity with the subject as skateboarders and also because the issue has little public recognition. As one of our supports for our stand against skater harassment we decided to build a website sharing our views on the subject.
We feel that as skaters we are unduly treated like hoodlums by figures of authority. We are treated rudely, and without cause, by about half of the adults we encounter while skateboarding. Although some skaters do deserve such treatment, we feel that it is unneccesary and unfair for us to be underservingly treated like vandals. We are partaking in an activity that is fast gaining recognition as a legitimate sport, and so we feel that we should be treated with the courtesy that is given any athlete. We also feel that public skateparks should be built by every city the same way they build basketball courts and baseball diamonds.
Another part of our assignment was to write a letter detailing our topic and our stand on it to a member of the state government that is somehow related to our subject. Since we couldn't find any state department dealing with skateboarder harassment we decided to send our letter to Governor Gray Davis. Below is a copy of it. Feel free to read through it, and thank you for visiting our site.
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Elliott (far left photo)- Seventeen years old, this guy spends all his time with his neighborhood friends and skating.
Sam (middle photo)- Eighteen years old, he spends most of his time hanging out with his girlfriend and working.
Larry (far right)- Seventeen years old, when he's not working at Baker's he hangs out with his girl.
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3258 Highcliff Rd.
Riverside, CA 92506
18 November 1999
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, 95814
18 November 1999
Dear Governor Davis:
We started skateboarding around March of 1994. We are now graduating seniors at
Loma Linda Academy in Southern California. In the more than five and a half years that
we have now been skating, we have been harassed by city and county law enforcement
officers, private security guards, and everyday citizens. It has continued to disgust us, but
we always thought there was nothing that we could do until now. As a project for our
Government class, we have undertaken to help raise public awareness about
skateboarding and it?s emergence as a legitimate sport. Our decision to address the
problem of skateboarder harassment was brought on by our own personal experiences.
When one of us is addressed by someone with an objection to our skateboarding, we ask
them why they have a problem with what we are doing. We are civil and respectful, but
almost always are either ignored or receive a flippant remark. Each of us gets this type of
response from adults and peers alike, and it is always a very discouraging experience. We
do encounter people who become interested in the skateboarders? plight once we start
talking to them, but these occurrences are few and far between.
We think that the central cause of skateboarder harassment is prejudice. We are most
often treated like hoodlums when someone confronts us about skateboarding near their
place of work or residence. The typical image of a skater in the public eye seems to be a
foul-mouthed, punk kid who is out looking for trouble, and we are too often undeservedly
treated as such. True, there are skaters who fit that description, but one cannot stereotype
a group because of the actions of a few members. If somehow this uncouth public image
were replaced by a more positive and much more realistic one, we think that more people
would accept skateboarders as legitimate athletes, instead of seeing and subsequently
treating us as troublemaking vandals.
To help educate the public about skaters and our sport we have begun building a website
that will present our views on skater harassment and will allow visitors to respond with
their own views on the subject. A survey that we recently conducted on our classmates
showed that an overwhelming majority considers skateboarding a legitimate sport, and
again almost all of those polled think that public skateparks should be built by the state.
We understand that skateboarding can inflict costly property damage, but if a community
doesn?t want us skating on their public or private property, they should lobby to have
public skateparks built so that we have somewhere to skate. Recently a group of San
Diego skaters took matters into their own hands and build a concrete skatepark on a
vacant lot beneath a freeway overpass. The park was soon shut down by the city,
however, and it?s future existence remains doubtful. This incident shows that there has
to be complete cooperation between skaters and their local governments in order for
anything positive to happen. We do believe that the responsibility of solving the problem
at hand lies on both sides. Some of us have signed several petitions for the construction
of public skateparks in our area in the past few years, and have seen no result. We
understand that building a public skatepark takes time and money, but no action towards
this end has even been started anywhere in our immediate area, according to police
officers we have encountered and even one whom we interviewed.
We are asking that you bring to the attention of the necessary parties the problem of
skateboarder harassment and discrimination, that it may be addressed by those in the
state government who are positioned to successfully contribute to making a change for
the better.
Thank you very much for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Elliott Kim
Larry Sanker
Sam Mendoza
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