Systemic Racism in Roller Derby — Queen Loseyateefa

Systemic Racism in Roller Derby

By Queen Loseyateefa

Since returning home from ECDX I have received several emails regarding Atlanta’s experience. I’ve also heard from other skaters of color about their personal experiences. Atlanta is in a position that very few teams have been in. Of the 32 skaters representing Atlanta’s A and B teams, 14 are minorities. Of those 14, 9 are African American, and 8 of those players are on the A team charter. That puts us in a uniquely concentrated group of people who can speak to and understand the cloud that follows minority skaters from event to event in roller derby. We see ourselves as a real-life version of Franklin from the Peanuts Thanksgiving Special, circa 1973. Franklin had a seat at the table but he sat on one side alone, not fully part of the group. We have experienced racism in ways that some teams are not “privy” to, such as people of color (POC) being called out for penalties by their skin color and number, called on penalties committed by other skaters of the same race, or announcers confusing skaters in games when it rarely seems to be the case for non people of color. As a long-time veteran in the WFTDA, I am often asked why I don’t speak publicly about these issues, call out events or offenders, or appeal to the larger governing body about any and all of these issues. I give the answers I’ve always given: I have, this isn’t new, this isn’t just my experience, and you can’t fix a macro problem with micro solutions. Although I, along with countless other skaters, are ready to clock out from doing the emotional work, I want to believe that ultimately the people who want to do what’s right finally will.

To start things off, I want to address a few of the questions and statements I’ve seen or been asked directly to the larger group:

1. “If it were my team, we wouldn’t play those games. We’d boycott them.”

• We don’t know these things are going to happen until we’re already playing the game. So what do we do? Forfeit? How is the skater, team, or league best served by doing this? Should the team possibly miss meeting our minimum game requirement for playoffs to prove the point that racism exists? We already know (or should already know) racism exists everywhere, including in roller derby. Currently there just aren’t measures in place to protect skaters and teams when racial microaggressions occur.

2. “You should call those individuals out by name/provide detailed examples, so they can be dealt with.”

• Racism is systemic. For every <insert any position> who makes a “mistake,” there are others who won’t but still fail to make space for skaters of color, contributing to our marginalization. For example, sometimes I’ll watch or play in games where some skaters can chat up officials at length after every jam questioning lack of calls, questioning lack of points, etc., etc. However, when a skater of color does this, they are often met with, “Are you the Captain or designated alt?” We are consistently not given the same space as white skaters.

3. “Not all <insert any position title here> are like that or do that.”

• It’s true, not every person in a position of power shares the same line of thinking or treats skaters of color differently than they do any other group. But microaggressive racism happens far too often for us not to be allowed to have a public discussion around it and ask for rules to be put in place to protect us. Also, I expect those who are aware of these wrongs to speak up to their fellow announcers, skaters, officials, GTOs etc. so that POC skaters don’t always have to be the sole vocal leaders.

4. “What about <insert name here>? She/They/He are doing great.” a.k.a. The Jackie Robinson/Obama effect

• Often when discussions of race are brought up, people will serve up the exemplary example to prove how there is no issue at all because look at what so-and-so has been able to achieve. “<Insert unicorn here> was able to obtain/achieve all of these things and they’re black.” Right, and typically that skater was subconsciously held to a higher standard than that of their white counterparts. These skaters must be non-controversial, palatable for most, etc. to achieve that level of success whereas there are countless examples on the other end where those same criteria are not required for non-POC.

5. “Did you report your concerns to the event leadership?”

• Yes, but there is currently no standard operating procedure or policy for how to address these issues before, during or post game. After seeing and hearing some troubling things during the first game, our Coach brought our concerns to the captain’s meeting for our next game and was assured this would not be an issue, but it happened anyway.

6. “Did you report these concerns to the governing body with supporting examples?”

• Of course our league reps take concerns back, but they can only do this after the fact. I’m sure other leagues do as well. But this isn’t a micro problem that a single THR or GTO can address. It’s a macro issue that needs policy that governs all events.

7. “How do you solve a problem like systemic racism in Roller Derby?”

You don’t solve it really. You manage it like an illness by:

• Having rules in place that address issues without individual skaters or teams being forced to fall on their swords in the hopes that it will make things better for someone 5, 10, or 15 years from now.
• Being aware that there will continue to be issues but they should be dealt with through current policy and procedure.
• Not relying on the torch and pitchfork mentality of call-out culture to be enough to safeguard skaters or spaces in the future. Draft policy to address these issues.
• Call-in those who make these errors to do the work to fix it going forward.
• Weed out those who refuse to do the work.

8. “If someone apologized for the mistake, what’s the big deal?”

• The big deal is that it sets a precedent of acceptable behavior for officials, announcers etc. All WFTDA members know the power that comes with these roles. An announcer makes a mistake in calling a player’s name and instead of fixing the error the solution is often to simply not recognize great gameplay by POC skaters in fear of making a mistake. It is not enough to simply apologize because it only impacts the person who receives the private apology. What about the skaters or fans who now think the behavior is acceptable? A true apology acknowledges the error, notes the factors that led to the mistake, and promises change. It is also public so that it is clear that the behavior is unacceptable and that, should repercussions follow, the reason is clear. Additionally, offenders often receive praise for apologizing and are not penalized for having made the error in the first place. How does this benefit us as a team?

9. “Do you truly believe that skaters of color are penalized more heavily?”

• Definitely. In the time that I’ve been skating, hard, legal hits by POC have been consistently penalized. Aggressive gameplay from non-POC skaters is allowed to “play out” in a way that it is not for POC skaters. It is associated with being competitive and energetic instead of brutal and illegal.

10. “What do you hope to accomplish?”

• I want all roller derby teams and players to be given the same respect that any team should receive whether the team has POC skaters and staff or not. I want to know that all teams are given a fair shake and assumptions aren’t made before the start of gameplay. I want all skaters to feel safe in challenging unfair calls without fear of retaliation.

I and any person of color in this sport can answer a million questions for you (and we have), but nothing will happen. We can share a thousand different examples on our social accounts and our friends will be shocked, disgusted, mortified — and nothing will happen. Let me tell you what we want: We just want to play. We want the calls to be the same from team to team and game to game. We don’t want an advantage. We want an even playing field where our mental game isn’t being chiseled away by microaggressions, where we are not being gaslit because were expected to accept an apology where the damage has already been done, where our hard hits aren’t labeled as too aggressive or deemed illegal by virtue of who served it. We want a game in which we are not being asked to live the experience, investigate the events, justify why we made the choices we made in the moment, and then present them to the derbyverse in the hopes that something comes of the emotional labor we put forth. We just want the score to be truly 0–0 at the first whistle.

Common terms: black, black skater, people of color