My earliest memory roller skating.
I got an instant flashback to a childhood birthday party,
where I decided to wear my skates.
And I have pictures of me in my skates
even during the piñata time.
And I just find that so hilarious
'cause I really haven't changed.
And I also just remember going to the rink
with my sister and my best friend.
We would go there a lot in middle school, high school.
But most of all, my earliest memories skating,
My family didn't have the privilege of having, like,
a car to get to places,
like grocery shopping or going to school.
So we would scooter, bike, skate.
In 2020, like, during the pandemic,
roller skating became really popular online.
You went from very few skaters online to just, boom,
everybody's posting their content.
And it's crazy.
So since I was already online,
people came to my page and were like,
you know, blowing me up.
And my following grew really fast.
And it was a weird thing for me
'cause it has changed my view on just social media
in roller skating.
Like, I was forced to grow with it.
There are goods and bads to it, you know.
You have to just get used to meeting people
for the first time, basically,
'cause people are really excited.
Sometimes they wanna take a picture with you,
and that's like not normal for me.
Like, why would you wanna take a picture with me?
But I have to understand that,
or, like, my videos or seeing skaters' videos
is the reason why they felt motivated to skate.
because sometimes people won't try something
'cause they're too scared they're gonna fail.
(gentle music)
Casting Black Skaters is a page I made
on Instagram at the start of 2020.
It was dedicated to
I never thought that you could get paid to skate.
Previously, I've done things for free
and I didn't know that it was,
like, something people did
as, like, kind of a career.
Like, I had to sit down and look at my phone
and see that the popularity just continued
to rise and the people that are being seen
weren't the people that I was seeing in the rinks
or, like, at the places where I was learning from.
And I think that's a huge part of history
that people forget,
because there are still things,
little rules or policies in place now,
that reflect that original, just, you can't skate with us.
And you can see that through, like,
the types of music maybe they don't play at a rink
or even the dress code.
Like, maybe you can't wear certain colors,
or a durag, or bandanas.
They might have a saggy pants policy
and also a wheel policy,
which is tied to the Black community as well.
It's important to just know these things,
because although it may just seem like little rules,
like, they're still reflective
of this anti-Black policy that just exists
in the skating community by default
because of the society that we live in.
At the end of the day,
I feel like
and just how roller skating is seen nowadays.
(gentle music)
I also see a lot of Black skaters getting
really cool opportunities.
Music videos, shows, little cameos.
I love it. I love to see it.
And I'm always gonna be about that.
and make sure that we're represented,
especially, in the skating world.
(gentle music)
So I identify as Afro Latino.
I identify as Black, Mexican,
queer, trans, nonbinary, pansexual.
I have all these identities, right.
And I do represent for all these communities.
And I think that it's really important to me
because
Being who you are, can literally change someone's life.
Just you being yourself.
And when I think of that specifically,
I think back to a conversation I had
with my father, who is trans.
He said he felt like he failed as a parent
because he wasn't strong enough
to come out as trans earlier in his life.
My dad's 50 years old.
That always stood out to me
because my dad is now living his happiest life ever.
Like, I've literally never seen my dad this happy,
like ever.
And so when I think about just being who you are,
that is the moment I think of with my dad.
And yeah, I hope that more people can be themselves
because I feel like when we're not ourselves,
it's like we're just continuing a cycle that's never ending.
(gentle music)
(people giggling) (gentle music)
Take Up Space, this is our second annual skate meet up.
Yeah, I just wanted to make a skate meet up
that honors LGBTQ+, identifying Black, Indigenous,
and other people of color,
because I think we matter in the skate community
and, sometimes, I don't feel like it feels that way.
I think it's safe to say that.
It doesn't always feel safe for all of us.
And I just wanted something that's purposefully like
This is for you.
You know what I mean?
I wanted all that extra love.
'Cause if you really think about it,
in the skating rinks we have, okay,
ladies only, ladies only, you know.
And then we have, okay, guys only, guys only.
And it's like, what about the people who don't fall
into those categories, you know?
We deserve to have our own space as well.
And so that's kind of what I'm hoping to get people to see.
But in the rinks,
I would really love to see that LGBTQ love, honestly,
a little bit more and truly caring about the LGBTQ community
and the overall skating community.
(gentle music)
(people laughing)