“Apache Passion”

By

Gerry Niskern

‘You’ve never heard of it?’ Neither had I until I read an article in the Arizona Republic by Shanti Lerner last week. She wrote about the kids and teenagers at Whiteriver on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation in Eastern Arizona and their love of skateboarding. Sure, the kids on the reservation love baseball, basketball and volleyball and the teams often advance to state championships. But the kids who take up skateboarding are sometimes a little more creative and not into team sports.

When Douglas Miles Jr. a professional skateboarder and film maker moved to Whiteriver the local kids showed him where they skated. They find a spot, usually an abandoned construction site and construct a DYI (do it yourself) skate park. These unofficial parks exist on swaths of abandoned concrete, under bridges or anywhere they find material available. Stacks of old plywood or used concrete beams are made to look like ramps.

Miles was impressed with their love of the sport. “They had been following me and made me welcome by showing me all the spots they had improvised to skate on. I asked myself, what can I do for them and that’s how the project Apache Passion on GoFundMe got started.

Long before that the Elders in the White Mountain Apace Tribe knew of the need. 50% of the reservations residents are 18 or younger. They had helped the skaters with small monetary donations and food and snacks for the tournaments, but the tribe had many challenges and of course, the Covid pandemic put everything on hold. Now the tribal council will contribute land, work to obtain additional grant funding, construction personnel and materials and help make the project happen.

Miles Jr. will hire designers and coordinate the building process. The project will cost around $l50,000. Miles said, ‘It’s been five years since I started trying to raise money for this project and we’ve come a long way. We have artists, professional roller skaters and many other donors who have faith in the project.” He went on to describe how these kids represent the best of the Apache culture. “These kids try trick after trick, fall on the hard cement and get up and do it again and again. There is a fighting spirit, a warrior spirit, that dwells in the bloodline of these kids. They have the endurance and the stamina  to overcome the challenges.”

I was impressed with this story of the skateboarding kids on the Apache Reservation and wanted to share it. I’ve lived in Arizona long enough to remember when tourists thought all the Native American kids did was herd sheep or dance a the Pow-Wows. And after watching the red headed skateboard gold medalist from Australia at the Olympics,  I’ve been thinking. Wouldn’t it be great to see a young Apache Warrior make it to the Olympics?

APACHE PASSION PROJECT ON GOFUNDME