MISSION SKATEPOSSIBLE
I Gave 200 Skateboards to Cuban Kids
BY CHRIS NIERATKO
| Chris hands out skate gear to a delighted crowd of adorable Cuban teenagers. (Photo by Zered Bassett) |
I am a giving person. I don’t know what it is; it’s just in my nature to put other people before myself. Take yesterday, for instance. I was at the White Castle drive-thru when the little lady inside the glass box told me my total was $5.55. I gave her $21.05. She said I’d given her too much money and tried to give me my extra dollar and nickel back. I explained to her if she used the full $21.05 it would make giving me change easier as she’d only need to grab a ten, a five, and two quarters. She was confused. I assured her that if she typed it into the register just as I’d given it to her, the magic of simple math would take over and planets would align and things would be just as I prophesied. She was doubtful but willing to try it. And oh! How her face lit up when the machine told her to give me a ten, a five, and two quarters. I changed her world that day. Why? Because I care. Sure, she doesn’t grasp mathematics enough to compute any other denominations, but if ever she comes across another $5.55 charge, she’ll be equipped with the knowledge of making change from $21.05. Making a difference in people’s lives can be so rewarding.
Earlier this year I was at a crossroads in my life, unsure if my next good deed should be starting global hunger or ending world peace, when from the clear blue my friend Augie from Acapulco Gold Clothing sent me a link to an internet video called
The Cuban Skate Crisis. The short documentary showed how Cuban skaters were affected by the ongoing embargo that started nearly half a century before they were born. They rode awful setups, warped and dilapidated decks, rusty bearings, square wheels, and skate shoes that were so worn and torn they looked more like sandals or flip-flops than anything. One scene showed a kid breaking his board and crying. He was forced to glue, staple, and nail it back together with a two-by-four for reinforcement across the wheelbase. It was heartbreaking knowing that I have three skateshops full of decks I take for granted. The only means for that kid or any of the Cubans to get a new deck is if someone brings it to them.
Having Obama take office and suddenly feeling like we have a reasonable man in the White House, I decided to issue a call to arms to take as much product down to the Cubans as we could carry. But we as Americans have not been able to fly directly into Cuba for nearly 50 years, and any American caught traveling there runs the risk of being fined by our own country anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000. And that doesn’t even begin to address the issue of what the Cuban government might do to us if we were arrested.
| Before: Little makeshift skateboards that make you cry. (Photo by Chris Nieratko) |
Needless to say, I was shit-scared. I was planning a mission to a place I’d never been, where I knew no one, didn’t speak the language, didn’t truly understand the boiling political climate, and aside from being responsible for the safety and well-being of the 18 skaters who signed up for the mission… I was also taking my five-months-pregnant wife. In my heart I wanted to believe everything would be kosher, that some higher power would guide us blindly through all the pitfalls because in the end we were embarking on a mission of goodwill. Much like the Blues Brothers, we were on a mission from God. How could we lose?
Well, that’s just foolish thinking. I can tell you now that we would have all ended up in jail if we would have gone down there through Panama and just barged in like I had planned. Like a genius American, I was like, “Dude, we’ll just cruise in and give out a bunch of product. No sweat.” It is by sheer divine luck that I am a free man able to tell you about our adventure.
In January, I went to my friend at Red Bull to see if he’d help pay for some of their skaters to go to Cuba. He said he’d just been approached by documentary filmmaker Tomas Crowder about doing a film on the Cuban skate scene and we should talk. Two weeks later I flew to LA to meet Tomas. He explained that if we would have shown up with that much product at the skatepark, we would have been stopped by soldiers with machine guns, had all our stuff confiscated, and been arrested and interrogated. It just so happened, though, that Tomas had been working with the government to help the skateboarders in Cuba for years, and he could get all the permits and OKs we’d need to pull it off. Three months later, 18 of us boarded flights from our homes to Havana (via Panama) with 50 complete skateboards, 150 decks, 100 sets of wheels, 200 pairs of shoes from éS and Vans, and more skate stuff than your average skateshop.
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Anonymous, on Nov 21, 2009 wrote:
Fantastic story! |
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Anonymous, on Nov 21, 2009 wrote:
how dare you write such an article?! this is so unlike you! fuck. i was expecting some hahahha story. now i am crying like a fucking bitch. mr. nieratko, you’ve warmed my soul. |
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Anonymous, on Nov 15, 2009 wrote:
That’s very cool. If you spoke the language and hung out there awhile you would probably feel less paranoid being there... also there are some historical reasons the govt. there distrusts random americans, like terrorist bombings and stuff, but yeah, point taken. |
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Anonymous, on Nov 12, 2009 wrote:
great story, chris. this is one to show all the naysayers. |
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| Dion, on Nov 12, 2009 wrote:
Noble act indeed. Wish I could do it! My buddy who is now a Canadian citizen said it’s awesome there! |
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Anonymous, on Nov 12, 2009 wrote:
I wish I was in a position to do something like that...seriously! |
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Anonymous, on Nov 11, 2009 wrote:
But rage against the machine said cuba is awesome! |
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