La Bloga has a great interview with writer Jack Lopez...Here is the full piece.
OLIVAS: Many people view surfing as a “white” sport. How do you respond to that view?
LOPEZ:
Are Hawai'ans white? The ones I’ve known aren’t that “white,” whatever
that means. I suppose the statement is a comment on the top surfers,
etc. Or possibly a comment upon who lives by the sea. In California
predominately affluent people live by the ocean because housing is so
expensive here. One doesn’t usually associate Latinos or blacks with
affluence. To
get
on the WCT, the World Championship Tour, the contest circuit that Kelly
Slater has won eight titles on, is incredibly hard to do. The surfers
begin competitive surfing in elementary school, sometimes, and
certainly by middle school. The circuit is sanctioned by the NSSA, and
this is the domain of high school surfing. To be on the high school
surf team and surf every morning as your P.E. class is how a surfer
gets really good. Then he or she gets sponsored and goes to all kinds
of exotic places and surfs even better waves. There’s a whole
progression for surfers to get on the “Tour.” The process starts in
high school, as is the case for most athletes. The high schools in
Boyle Heights and San Bernardino don’t field high school surf teams.
Furthermore, I don’t see Latinos and blacks moving in large numbers to
Monarch Bay in south O.C. Until more people of color surf at an earlier
age, nothing will change.
Having said the above, I’d like to
point out that Bobby Martinez and Timmy Reyes are on the world tour,
ranked 8th and 13th respectively. Shea and Cory Lopez are well-known
pros. And Gerry Lopez… Inkwell Surf and Sport is sponsoring
black surfers to compete in contests. So things are changing, and, as
it is with meaningful change, it will be slow.
One more thing.
Surfing, at least in the water, was one of the few endeavors that I’ve
done in which it didn’t matter what your race was; it only mattered
what you could do while in h2o. On land, of course, things tend to be
different.