In Seattle, a group of friends band together to speak out against white supremacy the best way they know how...with their fellow skaters. Amongst lamp posts or bulletin boards aligning the sidewalk of Alki Beach the weekend of April 9th, you might have seen their posters. They read in bold letters "SKATE AGAINST HATE ABOLISH WHITE SUPREMACY" and feature hand-drawn graphics of rollerskates, skateboards, and bikes, while also detailing the time and location of the protest.
SATURDAY - APRIL 1OTH, 2021
4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
LUNA PARK, ALKI BEACH
As a fellow rollerskater, I was immediately drawn to this event and set myself up with the opportunity to talk to one of the organizers, Madelayne Varela, over Zoom. When talking to Madelayne - and even in her speech that opened the skate - she detailed the emotional response she had to the Atlanta spa shootings on March 16, 2021, In which an armed man went into three different spas and killed eight people in totality, six of which were of Asian descent.
“It was first anger and it's, it's just distress, it's all the emotions at once,” Madalayne recounts of first hearing of the shooting and watching the press conference. It was then that Madelayne texted their group chat that they needed to do something and her and other fellow organizers began to spread the word amongst the skate community.
It wasn’t until April, 10th at Luna Park, Alki Beach that they would see the fruits of their efforts. Packed on the docks, wheels nestled in the grass, scattered groups of people waited and listened for the organizers to begin their speeches. As Madelayne took the megaphone, a silence consumed the audience and her words began to carry throughout the gathering.
“I personally am just tired of all this, I’m tired of watching people of color be seen as less than,” she begins. “We are all immigrants, my people were brought here against their permission, I’m so sick and tired of being seen as three-quarters of human. Still, in 2021 man… and to know that other people of color, Asian people of color are getting brutalized by people because of the rhetoric of white supremacists, it’s ridiculous!”
After hearing these moving speeches it was then that the crowd took over the streets and sidewalks on their wheels and began their march towards Statue of Liberty Plaza, Alki Beach. It was then on the megaphones that the chants, all too familiar from the Black Lives Matter protests of the past summer, began and our voices carried over the seagulls and waves and into the crowds of people amongst the beach and eating at the restaurants.
“Money for jobs and education!”
“No more wars and deportation!”
“What do we want?”
“Justice!”
“When do we want it?”
“NOW!”
“If we can’t have it?”
“Shut it Down!!”
We were met with car honks and cheers but also as I later learned, from talking with Madelayne after the event, a truck driving by and shouting “white pride”. It became ever more clear that there was a reason for this march in Seattle because this rhetoric and this dangerous movement exists here as well. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, “In 2020, 22 hate groups were tracked in Washington” two of which, are located in Seattle and orient themselves with neo-nazi rhetoric and discourse.
It doesn’t have to be a neo-nazi shouting hate speech that defines white supremacy, it can also include the use of microaggressions against people of color, as Madelayne and I discussed. Here are some examples and what they mean via The University of Minnesota School of Public Health:
Saying “There is only one race, the human race” means denying individuals their cultural and racial identity. Another example would be someone saying “I’m not a racist, I have several Black friends.” which comes across as “I am immune to being racist because I have friends of color.”
This rhetoric has no real purpose in our modern-day society and it’s time that we use our voices and speak out against it like Madelayne and the other organizers, Nicole, Carmin, Anya, and Stephanie, have.
I leave you with a final statement from Madelayne and our conversation together...
“I implore people to make friends with people of color, to do their own research on race in America, ask questions and never not speak up against hate.”
An anonymous rollerskater stands with a sign saying “Stop Asian Hate” at Alki Beach on April, 10th. The Stop Asian Hate movement has been gaining traction as the number of hate crimes against Asians in America rapidly increased in 2020 and is increasing in 2021 as well.
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