A group of Bay Area roller skaters is on a mission to build Panther Skate Plaza, an inclusive, community outdoor rink at West Oakland’s DeFremery Park. Every week, dozens of residents attend the group’s Thursday Panther Prowl event.
The project came about when the park’s director Greg McClain approached the group’s founder Kei Kei Kemp in 2021, as reported by the Oaklandside. The group steadily grew over its first year, and the event became an official city of Oakland Parks and Recreation program in 2022, as reported by KGO.
The weekly Thursday Panther Prowl currently takes place from 6 to 9 p.m. on the park’s basketball court. There’s also a Black Panther Party-inspired farmers market each week, presented by God's Resting Place Community Outreach.
The permanent Panther Skate Plaza will be located between the DeFremery Park’s basketball and skateboard courts. As KPIX reports, the community refers to the park as Bobby Hutton Park, after the first recruit to join the Black Panther Party. According to the group’s website, the park was a community, political, and administrative hub for the Black Panther Party.
As the group’s website notes, there aren’t any indoor rinks within 25 miles of Oakland, and the East Bay has a dearth of outdoor spaces suitable for rollerskating.
“It is not about building tennis courts that look appealing to people that don’t live here yet so that this place can be gentrified,” community member Donna Norcom Milich told the Oaklandside. “It’s about making space for the people that already live here to do the things that they do that are positive to enhance their lives.”
The group’s mission is “to create a safe, inclusive, and accessible space for roller skaters of all identities, ages, and abilities that is organized by the community for the youth, while contributing to the rich history of West Oakland and DeFremery Park.”
"The division that's happening right now, it's not good for anyone. It doesn't matter who we are and what we look like. We just need to really come together and keep doing things like this," skater Rody Jointer told KPIX.
Image: David Meza/ZapInc
