A Black-led group of Bay Area roller skaters is on a mission to build Panther Skate Plaza, an outdoor rink at West Oakland’s DeFremery Park. Every week, dozens of residents attend the group’s Thursday Panther Prowl Skate.
The group formed early in the pandemic in 2020 when residents were eager to get out and skate, as reported by the Oaklandside. While many in the community were new to skating — or hadn’t skated in years, rollerskating has been a mainstay in the Black community for decades.
“Black skate culture is ginormous. It’s so big. And you would think it doesn’t exist because it isn’t something that’s widely covered,” plaza organizer Donna Norcom Milich told the Oaklandside. “It’s huge in African American culture and goes back generations.”
As reported by KGO, the group steadily grew over its first year, and the event became an official city of Oakland Parks and Recreation program in 2022.
The weekly Thursday Panther Prowl Skate currently takes place from 6 to 9 p.m. on DeFremery Park’s basketball court. There’s also a Black Panther Party-inspired farmers market at each week’s skate, presented by God’s Resting Place Community Outreach.
The permanent rollerskate plaza will be located between the park’s basketball and skateboard courts. As KPIX reports, the community refers to the park as Bobby Hutton Park, after the first recruit to join the Black Panther Party. According to the project’s website, the park was used as a community, political, and administrative hub for the Black Panther Party.
As the project’s website notes, there aren’t any indoor rinks within 25 miles of Oakland, and the East Bay has a dearth of outdoor spaces that are suitable for skating. All the more reason for a permanent space.
“It’s about Black joy. It is access to recreational space. It is not about building tennis courts that look appealing to people that don’t live here yet so that this place can be gentrified,” plaza organizer Donna Norcom Milich told the Oaklandside. “It’s about making space for the people that already live here to do the things that they do that are positive to enhance their lives.”
In today’s political climate, communities such as the Panther Prowl skaters are more important than ever.
“The division that’s happening right now, it’s not good for anyone. It doesn’t matter who we are and what we look like. We just need to really come together and keep doing things like this,” skater Rody Jointer told KPIX.
Image: David Meza/ZapInc
