froSkate brings women of color and the LGBTQIA+ community to Chicago’s skate scene

By most accounts, United States skating culture was started in 1970s Venice Beach, California, by white men. For a long period of time (and arguably still), women and other marginalized folks were largely excluded from the culture.

But they won’t be for long if froSkate, a Chicago-based skating group composed of women of color and LGBTQIA+ folks, has its way. Led by Karlie Thornton, Maya Green, and Brianna Beckham, froSkate’s motto is “Falling is easier when it’s with friends.” Thornton recently told the FBomb about how this group came to be and how they hope the movement will spread across America.

The FBomb: Can you explain what froSkate is and why you decided to start it?

Karlie Thornton: froSkate is a skate crew in Chicago that started in late May of this year. We aim to bring more women, queer, trans, and NGC [non-gender conforming] people of color into skateboarding. We create a space for people to learn and find community through skateboarding. There are many reasons why a lot of women or queer people feel too intimidated to get into skating, including not feeling comfortable at a skate park, not feeling represented in the skate scene around them, and feeling scared of what people will think of them. A lot of people don’t know where to start and sometimes don’t have the financial means to start skating in the first place. We want to try and help combat these barriers, by providing the space, the crew, and equipment to spark this change.

Skating became relatively mainstream in American pop culture in the 1990s and early 2000s. What do you think of how skating has been portrayed in the past? How does it compare to the culture you're part of/are building?

Personally, I got into skateboarding because a lot of my friends in middle school did it, and when Instagram became a thing, it opened a whole new world for me to discover more people who killed the sport. I never really saw too many movies, but … there’s kind of two ways skate films could go. It could be a skate movie that was created by people who actually skate, and know skate culture, creating a truly authentic, cool skate movie — or there can be films that portray skateboarding as an ignorant or disrespectful culture, and of taint skateboarding’s rep. 

Without the boost from films, though, skating would be heavily exclusive. A lot of us wouldn’t have found our passion or love for it without seeing it somewhere first. Think of a kid living in a suburb in the middle of nowhere, who runs across a skate film. Suddenly that kid is inspired to skate and finds a whole new passion, an entirely new escape from his surroundings. It’s something fun, exciting, and new. With our crew and online platform, we hope to spark that same inspiration and bring new and old skaters together. 

Your motto is “Falling is easier when it’s with friends." Why is skating in a group important to you? 

Skating can be a frustrating and scary sport. You’re constantly throwing yourself into a new dangerous scenario. Things can get serious and, as a beginner, you mess up often. Put those two together and you get the reason a lot of people stop skating as soon as they start. When you have a crew or support system of people who look like you and are doing what you’re doing, while collectively pushing and encouraging each other — it’s an entirely different experience. You feel motivated. Skating becomes less serious, less intimidating, and more of a friendly, fun experience. Most skaters I know have a “crew,” and it truly does make skating a much more enjoyable experience. To have someone clap for you when you get up after a fall, or people to laugh with you after you tried a trick for the fiftieth time and it just won’t land. To have a group of people scream and run around when you do land a trick is the best feeling in the world. 

Do you want froSkate to have chapters in other cities? Do you aim to make this a movement? 

Most definitely. It’s already a movement, outside of froSkate — there are similar organizations around the world that are out there killing the game as well. But we do get a lot of inquiries about starting chapters in different states and even internationally. It’s a foreseeable plan we would love to make happen and are excited about. But I also encourage everyone to bring together their own crews wherever they are, post a flyer online or near skate parks, get some friends together … that’s what skate crews are!