All right it was at this moment I realized I hadn’t been roller skating in years and might have gotten a little too cocky hello as you can see I might have been a little out of my depth but when you do a roller skating story particularly with someone as cool as
Tasha Clan you’ve got to shake off the doubt and just roll with it the roller skating is more than what most people think of it as for Tasha her skating Journey started as a child in the DC area on sidewalks on pavement and of course as she got older at the local
Rank I can remember again I just being amazed at the skaters there were clubs as her passion for the sport grew she joined a performance troop the wheels of fortune she got so good she and her husband Norbert who also skated and their two children were cast as
Background extras and flown out to Chicago for the filming of the movie Roll Bounce that’s her and her husband doing the insane pull through move you’re seeing right here as well as that holdover in the background of the opening clip I mean people tend to only know it from however they experience it
Was it a child sport was it a competitive thing was it performance when in reality it’s all of those things Tasha is what’s known as a roller skate historian if you didn’t know that professional position existed join the club but after talking to Tasha on a chilly Wednesday evening at Lam Skate
Center in Maryland I realized she is the Pioneer of something incredibly fascinating and important what I’ve come to discover is one there’s a real need for just roller skating history Tasha says it all started when she began talking to DC’s skate Elders OG’s in the roller skating community and it dawned
On me really after talking to one Elder in particular honey High Bo Williams that there was a real history to be preserved and shared that history is one she says is particularly tied to DC’s African-American population in Washington yeah because of segregation yeah there really wasn’t major a major
Black roller rank right Tasha says that all changed in the late 1940s when one of DC’s most famous ranks National Arena which had previously been heavily segregated for whites only opened its doors to the black community because it integrated when it did not only did it
Become a big deal for people in DC proper but it began to attract Baltimore New York New Jersey people would come down to skate there that’s really and compete that rink run by America on Wheels became more popularly known as the calorama road skating rink Tasha
Says that place and one of her teachers there miss Connie were integral to her journey in the ‘ 80s I was able to go to that rink to take lessons so by the time I come along you have generations of skaters Tasha says roller skating to the
Black community was and still is a way to facilitate artistic expression congregating at the rink is a tool for social Gathering and it’s a place to feel at ease it’s movement it’s music it’s Joy it’s it’s always good to you when you show up that’s why she says she
Was surprised when she realized despite its cultural significance roller skating’s impact on the community hadn’t really been documented a big part of getting the African-American story was oral histories person by person Tasha says she collected memorabilia and conducted her own 3D anthropological study connecting the dots and weaving
Together the past and the present of roller skating I began to get the firsthand stories I’ve started doing the research and connecting what I thought was a DC thing to find out that it’s a national thing as her research expanded Nationwide Tasha developed a relationship with Humanity’s DC through
Another organization called story Corp she ended up applying for and receiving a grant to help refocus her efforts and get access to archives to check the oral histories she’d compiled and verifying facts you know kind of making sure that people’s memories are on point Tasha is the founder of the national
African-American roller skating archives established in 2004 and hous at Howard University’s Morland spinar Research Center the national African-American roller skating art archive project continues its 20- year long Mission today an Endeavor Tasha calls her quote Divine assignment when she’s not at DC’s MLK Library the National Archives or the
Library of Congress researching you can find her skating I think we’re ready I feel ready okay okay and that’s where we resume my small part in this story if you’re wondering yes that hurt a bit but the more people I met the sooner I forgot about it e e from DC out
Here this is where we are this is what we do I enjoy roller skating because it it gives me a sense of freedom I even met Tasha’s husband Norbert they met when Tasha joined his skate group back in the day and the way he tells it they
Practically skated right to the altar if you spend most of your time there that’s what happens you know what I mean that’s exactly what happens Norbert says he and Tasha will be skating as long as they can stand on skates I try to support it
In every way I can but you know that’s definitely her passion and and you know she’s she’s very deep and knowledgeable about it so you know she’s serious there’s no no joke about this skating and shout out to Tasha’s friend Shiva Moore who was able to keep up with Tasha
And Norbert to get this footage and also saw my small accident and I saw you take a spill and and that’s a part of learning I can’t count how many times I’ve fallen you might have caught that clip from local Legend Eric Holmes also known as Uncle e who told me skating is
In good hands for the future my son my nephew you I got a niece in there to people like Tasha Norbert Shiva and Eric DC’s signature skate style fast on the outside to slow R&B music will forever be iconic but Tasha says the activity isn’t just for one group of people and I
Absolutely believe roller skating has such amazing Health and Social benefits for every Community it’s addictive Joy love is the cheapest funnest sexiest healthiest activity you can do at the end of the day my wrists and tailbone were sore but my heart was full and I felt welcomed with open arms in Lam Matt
Kofax it is a lifetime sport let’s start it too and let’s keep it going to your 102 wtp news want more Matt about town hear me on the radio before my videos are available online every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 7:45 a.m. listen on 103.5 FM the WTOP app or your smart
Speaker and I’m pretty much self-taught I’m very selftaught as well that was bound to happen at
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