"Why Blacks Don't Surf" ran in the Summer 1979 issue of Los Angeles-based H20 magazine. Writer Earl Ofari, 24, was then the Public Affairs Director for radio station KPFK, and has since written more than a dozen books on race, culture, and politics. This text below has been slightly edited.

“I was a black man in a white world, I never had it made.” The words were not spoken by some wild-eyed black revolutionary, but none other than Jackie Robinson.

Robinson used these words to sum up his experiences with white America’s sports establishment. Robinson’s “I never had it made” sentiment could just as easily have been spoken by hundreds of black athletes and sportspersons over the last hundred years.

As everyone knows, Jackie Robinson was the first black to integrate the major leagues. His “breakthrough” came in 1947. Before him, the executives of organized baseball had for decades practiced a “white only” policy when it came to black ballplayers. This meant that blackswere relegated to the Negro Leagues. They played under poor conditions, with little or no pay, and of course no recognition from the white sporting world.

The color barrier in football, while not as rigid as baseball, nonetheless prevented many blacks from gaining entrance to America's gridirons. The situation was brought into dramatic focus in the early 1930s when George Halas, one of the fathers of professional football, was accused of rescheduling games so that his team, the Chicago Bears, would not have to play teams with black players.

The racism that prevailed in the sports establishment extended to basketball too. The Harlem Globetrotters, who have provided thrills and laughs to millions over the years, was the product of a segregation policy toward black players that mostly kept them out of the NBA.

It wasn’t until the post-war period that blacks began to find their way in small numbers into organized white sports teams. Jackie Robinson paved the way in baseball; Fritz Pollard in football; and a small contingent of black collegians entered the National Basketball Association at about the same time.

Other sports, such as track and field and boxing, followed a different pattern. Here blacks from the earliest periods were allowed to participate. However, in many cases they were prevented from reaping financial rewards, or attaining any kind of permanent status in the sport. Boxer Joe Louis and track star Jesse Owens were the exceptions. But they faced problems as well. Louis was not permitted, like his white peers, to stop fighting when he was past his prime. Owens, after bringing home numerous gold medals from the Berlin Olympics in 1936, was not invited to meet the president, as was common for American medal winners, and still had to ride at the back of the bus.

But what of the lesser sports, such as golf, tennis, swimming, not to mention water activities such as water polo, diving, and surfing?

Sad to say, but here the exclusion of blacks was almost total. It wasn’t until the 1950’s that a black tennis player, Althea Gibson, was allowed to play in tournaments. In golf, the only blacks seen on the courses were those carrying the bags. It wasn't until the 1960's that blacks were permitted to actually compete.

The bleakest picture of all for blacks, though, has been in the water. Blacks, to this day, are rarely seen in competitive swim meets. As of this writing, there has yet to be an American black swimmer in the Olympics.

And as for surfing, it has only been within the last few years that blacks even engaged in the activity. More importantly, in terms of amateur or professional competition, the water remains lily-white.

Why has this situation been allowed to exist in these sports and activities? The answers have been as varied as those who have asked the question. Some coaches and most owners for years charged that their athletes would not compete beside blacks.

Others claimed that blacks would hurt attendance; while others maintained that blacks were not as intellectually "sophisticated" as whites and would therefore not grasp the complexities of the sport in question.

All of these were of course nothing but racist rationalizations designed to justify black exclusion. This also had the result of preventing blacks from developing their skills in colleges. That is, providing that blacks could even gain admission to a college in the first place, which was not always a given, even in the North.

Thus it became, in many cases, a self-fulfilling prophecy: Blacks cannot play because they cannot develop. A neat bit of catch-22 which allowed the white sports establishment to sit back in smug comfort.

Another school of thought on blacks in sport was the “They're more physically gifted than whites” line. Variations of this thinking are even heard today by some who attempt to explain the reasons for black dominance of sports like baseball, basketball, and football. The problem with this specious argument is that the equally-specious flip side: blacks don't have the cerebral capacity to hold down the positions such as quarterback or manager or coach.

Let's put our attention, instead, on the environment in which most blacks are raised, and let's get back to swimming and surfing.

First of all, we have to ask ourselves: how many swimming pools are in the ghetto? The answer is obvious—very few, or none. Next: How close is the black community to the ocean. The answer, usually, is the same as the above. When you're stuck in the middle of a city it is kind of hard to get motivated by the idea of romping on the beach.

This is only the beginning. Blacks, for the most part, are workers. That means that they simply don't have the long hours necessary to spend in the ocean waiting for the waves, not to mention the added time of traveling from one beach to another.

And what about cost? Wetsuits, surfboards, and all the assorted other surfing—this is simply beyond the means of many. Same with the cost of travel.

But the biggest “environmental” factor is a lack of tradition in terms of being exposed and involved in the sport. There are no surfing classes in their schools, there are no well-known local figures that have “made it” in surfing for them to look up and identify with. These are all critical factors to a youngster’s choice of sports.

There is no doubt that blacks could excel in surfing, just as there is little doubt they could excel in swimming. It’s basically a matter of opportunity, inclination, motivation, and practice. The skills will quickly come if these ingredients are there.

It is also true that blacks interested in sporting activities, whether it be football or surfing or anything else, will tie the development of their skills to the potential of that particular sport to make a good living for them.

One of the most common sights in the black community is the sight of a group of black youth spending long hours on the basketball court while neglecting their studies. You ask any of them why, and the first thing they'll say is that they want to be a “star” someday so even they can make the big professional dollars.

Needless to say, few ultimately make it. While for the other thousands who don’t, it is a long trail of broken dreams.

So in that sense, maybe it's fortunate that there are no big money pro surfer leagues for which black youth to spend years not to make.

But one thing is certain: if and when the opportunities do open up in a sport such as this, there will be a hardy few blacks who will be out there on the waves with the best.

The letters column in the following issue of H20 (Spring 1979) featured this note from a surfer in Hawaii.

I’d like to thank you gentlemen for your recent article “Why Blacks Don’t Surf,” especially the historical background noting our difficulties in the world of amateur and professional competition. Actually, it’s inspiring to see the progress we’ve made over the years despite our setbacks.

Unlike football, basketball, boxing and all the rest of the glorified commercialized sports, surfing is a religious experience for me. It’s one of the few activities when I can be alone in the world and be at peace with the ocean. Performing for money, people or recognition are totally out of context with surfing. Try to tell the typical basketball or boxing fan about your latest tube ride. Yeah.

When I get spit out of the tube, brother, I don’t consider my black skin and hope I will be one of the “hardy few blacks who will be out there on the waves with the best.” NO WAY! Instead, I paddle back out there for the next wave, bro, and that has nothing to do with my black skin and what society thinks of me. I’m just stoked.

"WHY BLACKS DON'T SURF," BY EARL OFARI, H20 MAGAZINE (1979)

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