A man amongst men!
Tip of the hat to AccessAthletes for this chat with Pro-skater Darren Harper. The article can be found here. Matt and Sarah are friends of mine who have a great website in AccessAthletes and I would suggest that all of you join up with them as a member of their community. As many of us know, skateboarding is an intense and physical sport so kick them some love.
This is a great article from a great skater but even a better person. Darren (a.k.a. D-Streets) exemplifies perseverance as he was born and raised in the rough parts of Southeast D.C., Harper defies many of the stereotypes, as he is one of the few premier African American skaters in the sport today. While many young African American athletes living in the nation’s inner-cities aspire to become professional athletes today, it seems the focus is on the NBA or NFL; but as Darren can probably attest hard work and a love for skateboarding can also lead to a professional endeavor as well.
Harper experienced a tough childhood in a low-income neighborhood rife with drugs, poverty, and violence. His father was a dope dealer who was in and out of jail and never around much. Harper’s mother, along with his step-dad, turned to drugs, and Harper was left caring for his little brother and two younger sisters (from his step-dad) at a young age. At times, things got so bad that Darren’s step-dad would shoplift just to put food on the table for his family.
In his own words “Skating would always keep me out of trouble because when all the drama was going on in my neighborhood, most of the time, I wouldn’t even be around. I would be downtown skateboarding.”
We all learn about skateboarding in different ways, from friends, through TV, and in Darren’s case by chance when he found his first skateboard in a pile of belongings from an evicted family. In the beginning, he would only skate around his neighborhood, but later he branched out and began meeting up with other local skaters at Pulaksi Park (located in downtown D.C). Harper was a sponge and excelled quickly at the sport, as he took pointers from his friends, watched their feet, and observed their slightest movements. No matter who you are, we all learn to skateboard through a community; we lean on others to learn, watch them, idolize them…but most of all we all enjoy the camaraderie and sport.
As time went on, Harper became a product of his environment. At 18, Harper stopped skating altogether and officially started pushing drugs. From that point on, Harper sold drugs non-stop and stop left skateboarding behind because feelings of isolation and peer pressure set in and led Harper to abandon the sport that he loved. That’s when things changed, he realized that he had a choice and when he was playing Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland video game, he saw Stevie Williams, a black pro-skater from Philadelphia who he had skated with growing up, was featured in the game…and you can say the rest is history because the minute his raw, edgy, skating style caught the eye of national sponsors the world opened up to him.
Harper now boasts a very impressive list of sponsors, including some of the biggest names in the business — DC Shoe Company, Dirty Ghetto Kids (DGK) Skateboard Company, Travis Barker’s (former member of rock/pop band Blink-182) Famous Stars and Straps Clothing Company, Venture Truck Company, Diamond Supply Company, Gold Wheels, KMC Wheels, Kicker Car Audio, and Fully Loaded Custom Car Shop.
Sponsorships are not all Harper is about though…he is a passionate philanthroper along with his efforts to make a name for himself as a pro-skater. As he states “I love to do charity work because I love to give back. I came from nothing and I’m still trying to turn that into something. So I know what it’s like. What I enjoy the most about it are the kids. I have kids of my own, so there is nothing like putting a smile on their faces.”
One of the driving forces behind Harper’s charitable contributions is his desire to change the current landscape of skateboarding by encouraging more African American youth to emulate him and pick up the sport. “They just need to see more of it. When it’s shown in a rap video, it encourages them. Kids love to follow trends, so when they see their favorite involved, they want to do the same. In other words, it’s all about Darren Harper promotion and getting with the right companies who can help me push [my message]“ believes Harper on attracting more African Americans.
This is a great message and story for us all to reflect on. In the world today times are tough and I love seeing an individual making a difference in their own life and the lives of others. We can all use this as motivation to better ourselves and our community. Give credit to Darren Harper as he as overcome all obstacles, yet he continues to strive to change the lives of others for the better. Darren will always be an honorary member of Project Trident and a role model to emulate.
On behalf of Project Trident, I would like to say thank you to Matt and Sarah at AccessAthletes for allowing me to refer parts of their interview/article with Darren Harper. Please go read the full article here. We also would like to thank Darren for taking time out of his busy schedule to do an interview. If you have any questions for AccessAthletes, Matthew Allinson can be reached at matt@accessathletes.com.
