Plus microaggression!
Ooooee we live in divisive times with bunker mentalities setting in around the globe. Fear, anger, mistrust, suspicion of the “other” etc. and are these the most divisive times in history? I’d say no, though am not an expert in the manner. Still. Divisive by any stretch and our playground, the wonderful ocean, is not immune.
Who could forget the aggressive leash pull that exploded normally bucolic Venice Beach, California just over a month ago?
In a New Year’s miracle the parties made nice and the surf world breathed a collective sigh of relief.
Today, National Public Radio takes up the inspirational story of Khadjou Sambe, a Senegalese Olympic hopeful, and the very famous Rhonda Harper of Black Girls Surf who was there on the pier that day.
Harper views localism as another form of colonialism.
“The beaches are being re-colonized by white males,” she said. “The thing about localism that cracks me up is that you truly can’t say that you own this beach or this is your area. That’s public property.”
The Venice leash-pulling incident went viral, and Harper said she began to receive threats. People accused her of using the incident to slander surfing and profit from it, she says. This baffles Harper as it was her surfer who was the victim, but Harper now employs a security guard if she and her surfers go to Venice.
Now, let’s not all go crazy. Very few, if any, of us are either black or female so can’t speak to the specifics but if localism is another form of colonialism which brand? Belgian? British? French? Other?
The Belgians were the worst, I think. Have you ever read Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad?
Yikes!
I guess I keep wondering when “white males” will stop being foundation for all of society’s modern problems. Cop out to the fucking gills.
this kinda makes me want to take a little drive down to santa monica and go for a surf. see what all this localism is about! sounds super intense!
Every respectable lineup needs a Black Girls Surf representative (complete with massive chip on shoulder) and security personnel on the beach, or even in the water when necessary, to ensure that minorities are being properly respected. Black girls entering and exciting the water should be escorted to and from their vehicles to avoid unnecessary exposure to white male privilege.
(I’m a Santa Cruz female regular, non-white…who can switch stance a bit, and don’t get snaked a lot…Hmm, maybe I should start training for the Olympics for a country with no female shortboarders in the WSL and where I can make a case for residency/citizenship??)
““In Santa Cruz, I get snaked a lot,” Sambe says.. “I wonder if it is because I am black. I wasn’t sure why they were doing it,” Sambe says.
Hate to say it, but I’ve surfed at the Hook more than a handful of times when she was in the water (in a variety of conditions), and I’ve yet to see her complete a decent wave — perhaps a string of bad sessions?…(the other Outside Mag piece does show 2 photos of her at the Hook).
And I can’t seem to find some of her ripping WSL-worthy footage anywhere online either — maybe it’s all private until the next big PR effort or fundraising campaign? Tell me this is not Fake News?
@phat-wan-Kerr —you may be right — non-surfing colonialists, indeed, who’ve been suckered by all the years of mainstream surf lifestyle marketing!
Yeah did you see the video of her on the news clip? I’m an adult-learner with a vagina and I’d snake her too
“Being frustrated with not seeing people that look like me, I decided to just create something for us [where] we could see ourselves,” she says.
Enough said I s’pose
Not entirely sure Ms. Harper that the Spanish, French, English or Russians actually colonized any surf breaks or that the locals they displaced on land were surfers, but, why let a few inconvenient facts get in the way of your Doctoral Thesis or paen to Fanon. BTW, I tried to order a copy of the “scourge of the white race” but evidently she had purchased all available copies in print.
Is the scourge, like, an exfoliating device? I could really use one, as an aging white male. Please send details (or a review!) should you manage to gain one.
You know how we sometimes complain about the standard of surfing in the back half of the CT, wait till you see the back half of the olympics.
Woe is me . I’ve busted brain cells for the last 5 minutes and while the powerful play continues I am sadly unable to contribute a verse . Bugger.
Then BAM . Scotty could you please name the hypothetical tennis court space The Break Point …….? And maybe incorporate some sort of multimedia arty farty stuff so we see break then point then break repeated infinitely …… till the court becomes a break and the break becomes a court ?
Forget it it’s a pointless exercise which will end up with London Calling……. ( the police ) .
Just wait til adult learner tech billionaires create robot militias to protect their newly colonized surf breaks. What then NPR?
Palm Springs on catch surf. the future is so bright I gotta wear shades.
Exactly… it’s going to take a scenario like the cult classic Revenge of the Planet of the Apes to get our lineups back from the 1%.
So they fight segregation with segregation?
Is Backward Beth in on this logic?
#poorme
It’s working for gun violence in the U.S., right?
Angry Violent Locals don’t hurt people! Bad People hurt people with Angry Violent Locals!
We need to arm the kooks with Angry Violent Locals to stop the Bad People who carry Angry Violent Locals.
Do you think you could spread a few of Arthur Ashe’s Ashes on the tennis court ?
Rad! I’m a Union Ironworker and
helped hang the iron for Arthur Ashe stadium in Queens NYC. I am from San Diego
I really want to let my self-righteous liberalness shine here and be all supportive but Harper seems like a complete kook. She’s doing more damage to her cause than anything.
“Her style of surfing, her ability to read the waves, is second to none,” Harper says of Sambe’s surfing. “She surfs just as well as the men.”
https://abc7news.com/sports…
“In Santa Cruz, I get snaked a lot,” Sambe says. Getting snaked is when another surfer cuts in or jumps the queue of surfers waiting for a wave. “I wonder if it is because I am black. I wasn’t sure why they were doing it,” Sambe says.
No way, you got snaked in Santa Cruz?! Nice work, coach. Perfect spot to train and get comfortable.
Here in New Jersey there’s certainly a colonialism happening on our beaches (speaking for the local longtime dirtbags like myself who grew up/still somehow live in coastal communities in NJ)… the colonialism we are experiencing here is actually eradicating said-localism of our surf spots and dry sand for any uses.
The 1% of America, its 30 year-old silver-spoon-in-the-ass-born, over privileged brats who grew up in the leafy suburbs of the NYC metro area are taking over… properties, local borough councils, businesses, and of course the very sand we’d once use to make clear there was an order to follow if you were down-the-Shore for July-August in daddy’s Shore house passed down generation after generation of New Jersey plutocrats.
Hence, it’s over, over here in the armpit of the East Coast. The colonists have taken control. The adult learners are calling the shots. Duck and cover in the line-up, be it July or January.
Basically in America today all you have to do is blame your problems on white males. There is no room, no time, or need for any rational thought or logic. This strategy works with the SJWs, feminists, the left, and so perfectly fitting – ol’ Rhonda from BGS. Rhonda, you may make a few Beachgrit articles, but I don’t think there is a surfer on this planet that will take you seriously.
Maybe Gillette will build a new ad campaign around her.
No doubt a Nike sponsorship is in the Pipeline.
are those blokes in the picture even surfing in the place? when one bloke decides its a neoprene shorts day and his buddy goes for a full suit, I start to wonder if perhaps the whole thing is being staged by non surfing colonialists.
The caption “a surfer paddles around Sambe” clearly shows a surfer not paddling around her, I’m curious about this switch stance that the “Olympic surf coach” is looking for in her athlete
I am so curious that I’m saving it for its own post!
I’ll get some popcorn ready!
A Star is Born .
Did you purposely post this article on MLK/Women’s March weekend?
H H H Hollywood ? Would love to see an all singing , dancing Bollywood version of Point Break …… even if it ends up more like Gidget .
That photo just reminds me how much I loathe the RHCP.
the rib high coward punch or the rather hyena-esque collection of posers?
The Anthony Kiedis in the center of the photo.
Doodle bop
I’m from California
Don’t say that I didn’t warn ya!!!!!
And the lack of sleeves on that rash vest? Seems counter to the intention of an invention designed to protect the underarms from chafing.
But allows the audience to see the tough stickers on the drug traffickers guns and it’s possible they have recycled the cut off yellow Lycra and transformed it into a ……….yellow beanie resurrected by Lewis Hamilton and ………….. no one else of any importance .
Marketing does matter.
I love this scene ,in Californian English , French and German just before Vincent Klyn’s character’s nose is broken by WSL agent ELo Oklahoma or was it FBI agent Jonny Utah ….? Thought they might be able to make a film , working title , The Vandals of Venice or Venice Woke or Venice Now combining aspects of Conrad’s the N. of the Narcissus , Lord Jim and Heart of Darkness ?
Apocalypse Now was based on Heart of Darkness and as we all know “Charlie don’t surf”
But ELo and Jonny Utah do and are multiplying ! The HORROR the HORROR ….
Belgian colonialism was definitely the most brutal of all the brutal colonialisms. Leopold II ruled over some awful shit.
Good thing Britain joined the First World War to protect poor innocent Belgium’s neutrality!
Still a shit fight a century down the track ….
Yeah but, they make good chocolate so…
all is fine!
And good beers and the women are very beautiful also, and they have one of the greatest race tracks!
And beers!!!
Bigger question- is that the lamest rashie you’ve ever seen?
Isn’t even functional as far as I can see.
Back off Warchild..seriously.
Exactly!!! I do wish I’d seen this before giving my 5 cents worth above.
To err is human ; to forgive , divine .
That would be a waste of time
If the beaches are public property can they be colonized? More importantly can they be recolonized?
As I rant above… check out what goes down in New Jersey.
I’m not going to stick up for dumb white males like myself but the “ Arrivistes “ ( Johnny-come-lately ) seem to be forgetting that locals are also guardians and are the first to help when someone is drowning , injured , or in trouble in general at the beach , campaigning to protect their stretch of coast from developers and mining while picking up broken bottles and rubbish and trying to educate to the best ( and sometimes worst ) of their abilities the generation which follows …….
Well said James.
Might I add- keeping the Elos in check as much as possible. When an Elo infiltrates the locals inner circle it can literally change the dynamics of an entire stretch of coast.
See Harper there’s white guys we all dislike too.
I would say E Lo’s SUP paddle acts as a staff of a sort of modern day Moses leading the white Midwestern American masses to the already colonized beaches.