oppression

[sk8rnblack]

skaters are subject to verbal and physical abuse everyday. business owners, the man, and concerd citizens try to stop skaters from skating. skaters love skating thats why they do it right? how would they like it if we took away their golf clubs, frisbees or tennis rackets? Skating is a sport that takes tons of control. when you have society trying to stop you from skating how do you exceed in a sport that is pushing its limits everyday? now i dont kow about you but i dont have many places i can skate withput getting kivked out after 10 mins. Skate is a form of art, the skateboards are the paint brush and the rails and stairs are the canvas... so how do we do our art form without the cavas? skateboarding is a sport that is growing everyday it is as popular as baseball or football . The governement dishes out money for those "traditional" sports to have a place to practice, so why cant they give us a place. And i dont mean what they normaly through together to get skaters of their back i mean stairs and rails and things we would see on the street not spines and other pecies of wood nailed in some funky shape. the government and skaters just need to find a way to get along we need some one to stand up to the man and give him a swift kick in to our reality. they think that all skaters are masachistic anarchist that want to cause trouble 24/7 which is always true. But because they think that we are subject to their abuse. I was at a local shops video premire and we just got out and we were all waiting for our rides just STANDING and the cops showed up asking us for our boards and we refused cuz they didnt have a just cause so they started taking some of the more "roudy" kids to the station and i would undertsand if we did sumtin but we were just standing there that is an example of skating being oppressed.If we dont want things like this to happen the we need to find a way to have society and kstaers get along or there will be a constant clash between them.

[HailToTheThief]

It's somewhere between a rant, a gospel, and a story
i like it.
skateboarding gets a hard rap, and it won't be going away anytime soon

[SlimJim_junky]

Me and Mr.42 were talking about how there should be some kind of thing where the town gives us places/obstacles to skate.Like you said,people always give baseball and football players places to practice.So,why can't they help US out too?

[Mr.42]

Dang . That's a nice story there , dude .

there's nothing you can do to make a cop think that you're not gonna cause trouble . It's sad that people who cause constant trouble get to mess it up for the rest of us .

Hey , SlimJimJunkie , you should make a thread about that old bitch who talks to us .

[SlimJim_junky]

Hey , SlimJimJunkie , you should make a thread about that old bitch who talks to us .
I think I will!

[Zero Skater]

dude that was seriously so deep, only your second post too. hmm it'll be entertaining to read his future posts. Great job on the story man.

[Menikmati]

You can't justify what you just said, considering the fact there's a damn good reason that we've been given the title that we wear. If you hadn't noticed, our skating society isn't perfect. We have our own share of the assholes, who 's brilliant non-thinking actions (graffiti, vandalism, giving strong attitude towards shopowners, etc) have given skaters the stereotype that we can't say we don't entirely deserve. Every city has them.. the street dwellers, 'punks' if you may. The ones who spray shit all over the quarter pipes at the parks, the ones who stay out at night, and toke up.. or perhaps the skater who is a bit too over protective of his board.. when an Officer tries to take it away for skating in a place where he was told multiple times not to, the kid freaks out, and threatens to 'truck-****' the Cop.
It's kids like these that force the stereotype that we've been given. Your rant was though-invoking, however not plauseable.. given the fact you make skaters look like perfect angels who are just trying to express themselves.. be that is it may for a handful of us (mainly those who have taken their love to the next step, and registered on Ramprage), there are indeed others who will call it just a sport, or mistakenly call it their lives, yet are too stupid to see past skateboarding as a trendy cliche that allows them to smoke weed with their friends.

[windustries101]

I agree with you menikmati, but the fact remains that not all of us fit that stereotype. You're acting like we should all be treated like that, which isn't so. Just as the guy said, skating is a sport and we do deserve a place to practice, no matter what the stereotype of "some" skaters is. Think about pro football players. They're always getting nailed for coke, nailing prostitutes, and usually once every two years, one of them is up on murder or rape charges. And with baseball, the whole steroid issue that is still going on now. They're not angels either, and they still get everyting they want. We're not the only ones that deserve a stereotype. To be honest, I think the other pro athletes deserve to have a bigger stereotype, cuz they've been wrecking shit a lot longer than skaters have. Football started in the 40's I think and baseball way back in the teens. In no period of time were the pro athletes from those two sports angels. Its true that skating orginiated mainly from kids on the streets who got into trouble, but that stereotype should be long dead now. He makes an interesting arguement, as do you, but I'm with sk8rnblack on this one... It's ridiculous how skaters are treated and something needs to be done about it.

[jeffyzai]

...there are indeed others who will call it just a sport, or mistakenly call it their lives, yet are too stupid to see past skateboarding as a trendy cliche that allows them to smoke weed with their friends.

well said, well said!!!

[Border99]

Dude yeah... ok who gives a shit. why dont u just ****in deal w/ it if somebody has got a problem w/ u skating then beat the living shit out of them i dont care who it is cuz yeah... dont take shit. who cares if they give us stuff i would rather be kicked out of a place after doing a killer handrail and jus running away from THE MAN. Its fun i mean would u wanna take that away? RUNNING FROM THE MAN IS FUN!!!

[Flipstreetskate]

Dude yeah... ok who gives a shit. why dont u just ****in deal w/ it if somebody has got a problem w/ u skating then beat the living shit out of them i dont care who it is cuz yeah... dont take shit. who cares if they give us stuff i would rather be kicked out of a place after doing a killer handrail and jus running away from THE MAN. Its fun i mean would u wanna take that away? RUNNING FROM THE MAN IS FUN!!!

Dude, just ease off. You are one of the people that Menikmati was referring to. Stop making it harder for everyone else to skate.

[jeffyzai]

^ worrrddd...

[dsc6072]

Hey, uh in case you didn't notice, they DO give us places to skate. They're called SKATE PARKS. I don't know about your town, but I can name 5 off the top of my head that I frequent, all within a 20 mile radius. Skateboarding (as in skating and grinding up and wrecking stuff) is an illegal activity on private property. You have to know that the second you decide to take it up.

They gave skaters The Plaza. Maybe you should read about that.

[Zero Skater]

Although skaters have a stereotype there are many of them that are trying to rid themself of it. Like dsc6072 said there are skate parks that we can skate but the fact is that there are a lot of people who prefer street, like me for instance. I am a street skater and will not ride vert ever simply because I suck at it. I have tried many times to go to skate parks but they take the fun out of it for me. While many establishments will not allow skating you can work out a deal with owners like I did, I agreed to not tag or vandalize and the owners say its fine. I skate the post office all the time because I made friends with the post master. Cops sometimes actually stop to watch me skate because they know I'm not going to mess up the area I'm at. I guess the moral of this story is to just not screw things up and the stereotype will eventually go away but untill we rid ourself of people that skate to destroy we will always be thought of as punk ass kids that skate to piss people off.

[SlimJim_junky]

Dude, just ease off. You are one of the people that Menikmati was referring to. Stop making it harder for everyone else to skate.
Worrrrd again!

By the way Zero Skater,your sig is great!

[dsc6072]

Although skaters have a stereotype there are many of them that are trying to rid themself of it. Like dsc6072 said there are skate parks that we can skate but the fact is that there are a lot of people who prefer street, like me for instance. I am a street skater and will not ride vert ever simply because I suck at it. I have tried many times to go to skate parks but they take the fun out of it for me. While many establishments will not allow skating you can work out a deal with owners like I did, I agreed to not tag or vandalize and the owners say its fine. I skate the post office all the time because I made friends with the post master. Cops sometimes actually stop to watch me skate because they know I'm not going to mess up the area I'm at. I guess the moral of this story is to just not screw things up and the stereotype will eventually go away but untill we rid ourself of people that skate to destroy we will always be thought of as punk ass kids that skate to piss people off.
Like I said, read about The Plaza, Rob Dyrdek's little project. And a 4 foot ramp is not a vert ramp. It's transition skating. There is a park around here that is basically a street course. It has concrete benches, a concrete C ledge that is mainly used as a manual pad, a few low rails, and a big one. There are three 4ft quarter pipes, but that's it. Banks, rails, ledges. True street.

[Blind Sheppard]

We have an amazing skate park in my city and loads of ones nearby. A local underpass with 2 huge flat banks is getting turned into a skate plaza. If your canny to security guards they're canny back.

[sk8rnblack]

we have been trying to get a skate park that is like street and we have tried to get the dc plaza before too. our city is a historical city they said that the only way for them to build us one would be if i wasnt in the city. Besides i think fredericksburg needs to relize how much money they are putting into the historicness of town are then look at the ghetto's and the school's and then take a look at our skate spots even though id rather have a skatepark id still like it if ppl were living well too but yea.

[Pinto]

I have a couple of skateparks near my house. One's a 5 minute skate away. That's all I really need.

[Mr.42]

Dude, just ease off. You are one of the people that Menikmati was referring to. Stop making it harder for everyone else to skate.yeah ! It's people like you and SlimJimJunkie causing a bad reputation for skaters ! "Hey , let's break into the gym and skate " , " Hey , let's break into your grandpa's house and skate " , " Hey , let's change the sign " , " Hey , let's steal these pipes from the neighbor and use them for grind rails " , " Oh , man I went skating in Natchez yesterday , but it was so illegal " ..... These are all things that a skater has said to me .

[HailToTheThief]

Hey, uh in case you didn't notice, they DO give us places to skate. They're called SKATE PARKS. I don't know about your town, but I can name 5 off the top of my head that I frequent, all within a 20 mile radius. Skateboarding (as in skating and grinding up and wrecking stuff) is an illegal activity on private property. You have to know that the second you decide to take it up.

They gave skaters The Plaza. Maybe you should read about that.
Like I said, read about The Plaza, Rob Dyrdek's little project. And a 4 foot ramp is not a vert ramp. It's transition skating. There is a park around here that is basically a street course. It has concrete benches, a concrete C ledge that is mainly used as a manual pad, a few low rails, and a big one. There are three 4ft quarter pipes, but that's it. Banks, rails, ledges. True street.You know not everyone will get to skate that. I'm probably never going to get to skate that. There aren't any parks within an hour drive of here, and those are metal ramp garbage. The nearest concrete park is a three hour drive to Louisville(costs $50 in gas), and the nearest indoor is a two hour drive(costs $10 to get in, plus $30+ for gas). There are no real "legal" options for decent skateboarding anywhere near here. So don't assume everyone gets things to skate.
And yes, my town had been petitioning and gathering funding for a new park, but some overzealous quasiphilanthropist parents decided to take liberties and trash the plan by heading the plan and going the cheap route, with metal ramps. Nevertheless, they wouldn't start construction on that for years.

[just_skate_]

Yeah, I'm with you HailToTheThief. We have one skatepark around here and it is that SkateWave shit that is only fun to skate for 15 minutes, in that time you can land every trick you know because the stuff is so easy. There is only one spot in town that they allow us to skate at, and it's the lumber yard, but we can only skate there after it closes for liability reasons. Just last summer about this time we asked if we could use the tennis court for a park to put ramps and rails and stuff in and they said yes. It was probably because we said if they gave it to us to use we wouldn't be damaging as much property as we already were. Try talking to your city about it and maybe they can come up with a solution, but if they are dicks like I know some city people are, just keep shredding around town and have fun. If you get kicked out, come back tomarrow...unless of course they theraten with fines or taking your boards.

[jeffyzai]

You know not everyone will get to skate that. I'm probably never going to get to skate that. There aren't any parks within an hour drive of here, and those are metal ramp garbage. The nearest concrete park is a three hour drive to Louisville(costs $50 in gas), and the nearest indoor is a two hour drive(costs $10 to get in, plus $30+ for gas). There are no real "legal" options for decent skateboarding anywhere near here. So don't assume everyone gets things to skate.
And yes, my town had been petitioning and gathering funding for a new park, but some overzealous quasiphilanthropist parents decided to take liberties and trash the plan by heading the plan and going the cheap route, with metal ramps. Nevertheless, they wouldn't start construction on that for years.

word up to that too. here in hong kong, there are 2-3 parks, and they all suck. They're all made of metal and they're hot enough to fry an egg on in the day. There are basically no ledges in any of these parks, let alone stairs and they are not for street skating. a skate plaza is also out of the question because in hong kong, people classify skateboarders along with roller bladers and skate bikers, and we get no respect. it sucks.

about the "street park" that someone mentioned, I think it would get boring after a while. I think the reason pros are pros is becuase thye're not just good on that one obstacle they practice on, but because they go aroudn to different street spots and are able to skate anything. they dont need to practice a million times to get one trick ona certain ledge or osmething. i think if you only skate one park and that's it, its a lot harder to improve.

[falloffboy101]

There's a church near me which me and my friends skate in. We first ask the owner if we can skate there, and we promise him we won't damage the plants or anything. its got a 2 set, whcih is fun to skate. Anyway yeah I hate the stereotypical skateboarder. We get no justice, just predjudice and no respect. I hate the people who go around, making it look as if we are uncaring, uncivilized people who don't care if we scare the elders, if we draw profane images on walls, if we leave our names, in huge letters, on peoples property, or if we just want to piss people off. Skateboarding is a passion we all share, and we should get respect for that.

[Poser Park]

Dude yeah... ok who gives a shit. why dont u just ****in deal w/ it if somebody has got a problem w/ u skating then beat the living shit out of them i dont care who it is cuz yeah... dont take shit. who cares if they give us stuff i would rather be kicked out of a place after doing a killer handrail and jus running away from THE MAN. Its fun i mean would u wanna take that away? RUNNING FROM THE MAN IS FUN!!!

You are the kind of person that gives other skaters a bad name. "If someone has a problem with you skating just beat the shit out of them!" "I'd rather do a handrail then run away from THE MAN!" I'm guessing that you enjoy breaking the law because its rebeling against "The Man".

I'm sorry, but you are an idiot. I think everyone else will agree with me that you're the stereotypical skater.

[Menikmati]

I agree with you menikmati, but the fact remains that not all of us fit that stereotype. You're acting like we should all be treated like that, which isn't so. Just as the guy said, skating is a sport and we do deserve a place to practice, no matter what the stereotype of "some" skaters is. Think about pro football players. They're always getting nailed for coke, nailing prostitutes, and usually once every two years, one of them is up on murder or rape charges. And with baseball, the whole steroid issue that is still going on now. They're not angels either, and they still get everyting they want. We're not the only ones that deserve a stereotype. To be honest, I think the other pro athletes deserve to have a bigger stereotype, cuz they've been wrecking shit a lot longer than skaters have. Football started in the 40's I think and baseball way back in the teens. In no period of time were the pro athletes from those two sports angels. Its true that skating orginiated mainly from kids on the streets who got into trouble, but that stereotype should be long dead now. He makes an interesting arguement, as do you, but I'm with sk8rnblack on this one... It's ridiculous how skaters are treated and something needs to be done about it.

The difference between skaters, and baseball/football players.. is fact that they supply millions, upon millions with a source of entertainment on national Television. Skateboarding is a individual, and somewhat secluded sport, despite our entertainment being supplied from videos like What If, or Yeah Right!.. As a result, the massive coverage from who scored what, and where overlooks your point of their drug use, and mischief.
Since skateboarding supplies for only a limited group of people, it's natural that the darker side is the side that hits the public, giving us that reputation.

[tup tup]

Skateboarders deserve their reputation. Look at all the over used spots in your city, I bet their covered in shitty black wax and all the ledges are chipped. Skateboarding is an antisocial activity really.
Also this new generation of skateboarders are mostly twats. Little slipknot hoody wearing dipshits with over flared ‘criminal damage’ jeans with their pack of jackass wannabe mates and some ruminant goth bitches on the side. I see these little bastards all the time, not so much in Newcastle anymore but when I travel I’m overwhelmed. You cannot avoid being pissed off by these little errors.

[dsc6072]

Skateboarders deserve their reputation. Look at all the over used spots in your city, I bet their covered in shitty black wax and all the ledges are chipped. Skateboarding is an antisocial activity really.
Also this new generation of skateboarders are mostly twats. Little slipknot hoody wearing dipshits with over flared ‘criminal damage’ jeans with their pack of jackass wannabe mates and some ruminant goth bitches on the side. I see these little bastards all the time, not so much in Newcastle anymore but when I travel I’m overwhelmed. You cannot avoid being pissed off by these little errors.
You couldn't have said it any better.

[Laughing]

^^^ The fact still remains that the spots wouldn't be like that if they gave us community skate parks. In my town there are about three skate parks, about a twenty minute drive. But all the skate parks around here are run by money grubbing pricks who charge $30 for a membership then $20 entry after the membership.

[Mr.42]

Skateboarders deserve their reputation. Look at all the over used spots in your city, I bet their covered in shitty black wax and all the ledges are chipped. Skateboarding is an antisocial activity really.
Also this new generation of skateboarders are mostly twats. Little slipknot hoody wearing dipshits with over flared ?criminal damage? jeans with their pack of jackass wannabe mates and some ruminant goth bitches on the side. I see these little bastards all the time, not so much in Newcastle anymore but when I travel I?m overwhelmed. You cannot avoid being pissed off by these little errors.You are correct , tup tup .

[Black_Label]

The thing that pisses me off more than people who dis skaters is skaters that really enjoy the bad reputation. You see them all the time. They're usually 11-13, wear anything that makes them look 'gangsta', and generally try as hard as they can to act like rebels. They would quit skating if skaters didn't have a bad rep. I mean, I'm 13 too, but you definetly wouldn't see me acting like that.

On the other hand, you do meet the exact opposite kinda person too. I was at the park the other day, and this just came up to me and started to try to help me with my kickflips. I can't come close, but he tried. The majority of skaters are not that bad.

[Ramp]