Darkroom / Stereohyped

Darkroom

Yesterday's announcement about the Hill Harper-narrated documentary, Soul Wave, got me thinking about black surfers. A quick google search pointed me in the direction of the Black Surfing Association and a web site for another (or maybe the very same) black surfing documentary. They sites a gold mine of surfer photos, including a series of pictures of black surfers attending the Jena Six protest with posters stuck to their surfboards.

Jun 12, 2008 · posted by Lauren Williams, Stereohyped · Link · 5 Responses

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Tagged: Darkroom, Sports, Surfing

Comments (5)

No. 1 · msim

Lauren, you have mentionned them often (black people who can't swim) so I believe you - but where o where do they dwell?
I have never met any.

I did a survey of all my friends and family and all, from Canada to Haïti; from Ethiopia to Sénégal, can swim.

p.s.:It is certainly not a class thing, I grew up working class going to a public school and swimming was part of the phy.ed. curriculum.

Posted: Jun 12, 2008 at 11:11 am

No. 2 · Lauren Williams, Stereohyped

Most of my friends and family can swim too! But I do know quite a few black people who cannot. The study I posted recently had to do with black Americans, specifically black American children. I'm not sure if you are American or not, but I don't think most American public schools teach swimming in PE. It wasn't offered as a class in any of the schools that I attended.

It might not necessarily have to do with class, but I think it does have to do with access and can be a regional thing. If I lived in Tennessee and wanted to become the most famous surfer in the world, I'd have a much harder time of it than someone who lives in California or Hawaii, you know?

Posted: Jun 12, 2008 at 11:37 am

No. 3 · daria from Gorgeous Black Women

msim, most public schools don't have pools and so they don't have swimming as phys ed.

I can swim but not that well and it's only because my great uncle had an olympic size pool and a kid's pool along with koi ponds all over the estate.

Posted: Jun 12, 2008 at 11:41 am

No. 4 · msim

Thank you for enlightening me, Lauren and daria.

I am Canadian, lived in Québec, Ontario and New Brunswick (in rural and urban areas) and swimming was part of the curriculum in these 3 provinces.

I am a little shocked sometimes about our cultural differences (between Canada and the USA).

Posted: Jun 12, 2008 at 5:03 pm

No. 5 · Chic Noir

Msim- I can not swim. We are blog family on sterohyped so now you know a blk person who can't swim.