'People used to tell me, 'You shouldn't skate because you're Black''

"People used to tell me, 'You shouldn't skate because you're Black,'" says Tristan Shillingford, a.k.a. "Trizzy," a 27-year-old DJ and skateboarder from Ajax, Ont.

"But I'm telling people, 'You should skate because you're Black.' People need to realize we can do anything."

Shillingford didn't see very many skateboarders who looked like him when he was growing up in the suburbs. After moving to Toronto, he found a community of Black skaters, and together, they're working to dispel the notion that Black men don't belong in the predominantly white sport. But it isn't easy.

In the documentary Black Boys Skate Too, Shillingford and his friends share how much they love skateboarding. Yet despite their abilities and passion, their dream of going pro is fraught with uncertainties.

"They want you to be something more marketable," Shillingford says in the documentary. "For Black people, it's not even, like, all about how you skate. It's just how they can sell your image…. They kind of pick on the Black people to see, 'Which one is more profitable for us?'"

Kevin G, or "KG," is a leader in the Toronto skate community and works to create spaces where skaters from all over the city can feel at home. KG bridges the gap for individuals living on the margins who want to participate in skateboarding; he's always there to offer a board or an item that someone can't afford. 

"I know what it's like," he says in the documentary. "You're not sure when you're gonna get a board. You're not sure when you're gonna get a next pair of shoes." 

In doing so, he's having a positive impact in the lives of young skateboarders in Toronto and contributing to a vibrant community of young men. "That's something that just beams from the skate community, not just Black skaters. People actually want to give back, and I took note of that and made sure I did my part."

"Stoney" is an Afro-Indigenous 24-year-old who's been skateboarding since he was 13. In Toronto's Black skate community, he says he's found a place that feels right for him.  

Stoney has found some success through sponsorships outside of Toronto and has insight to offer his peers after travelling the country as a Black skater. "Anywhere I go, I do kind of have to get a little scared," he says in the documentary. "Just 'cause I know, for some reason, I may not end up back home."

"Security [guards] sometimes become a bit more violent with me —  it's just me, this one Black man, taking myself out of my home into somewhere else. But that's also where you just gotta be more cautious in your step and just be a bit more patient too, 'cause they'll be quick to throw you away [in] the slammer, you get what I mean?"

The young men featured in Black Boys Skate Too skate for the love of the sport — and are making space for others as they do. "There's a lot of sports out here that don't have a lot of Black people," Shillingford says in the documentary. "We need to fill in these spaces and let people know that we can do anything."