Roller skaters whizzed around Redwood City’s historic armory to unite against hate on Saturday afternoon. The annual event, Skate Against Hate, transformed the indoor gym into a dazzling roller skating rink with multicolored lights, upbeat music, and tables with information on local organizations.
Guests arrived around 4 p.m. to borrow roller skates and brush up on their skills. While young children made up the largest portion of skaters, teens and adults joined in on the action, with some even showing off their expertise by skating on one foot or doing spins. For those with less experience, Alison Liberatore, the organizer of Skate Against Hate, offered free lessons on one side of the armory.
Liberatore began collaborating with Redwood City three years ago to start the annual tradition. She is the founder Skate Open Spaces, a local organization dedicated to bringing roller skating to different parts of the Bay Area through a mobile skate van. Liberatore said that skating provides communities with a unique activity that is accessible to all ages. “It’s multi-generational. There aren’t a ton of things out there that are active that parents and kids and grandparents can do together that everybody likes,” she said.
The event brought together skating enthusiasts. “It feels like we can get really isolated. And roller skating is a very social activity,” Liberatore said. “It’s really important to me that people find things that they like about each other, commonalities that they’re coming together with. It feels like an equalizer.”
Another key component of Skate Against Hate was spreading awareness about different community resources available to residents. After every 30 minutes of skating, attendees briefly gathered to answer trivia questions about library events, community organizations, and other resources, receiving snacks for their correct answers.
The Redwood City Library, Redwood City’s Youth Advisory Board, Bravemaker Film Fest, Peninsula Suicide Prevention, and gun safety organizations Moms Demand Action and Be SMART set up informational tables to raise awareness about their causes.
Volunteers Rebecca Hernandez and Keitlan Wallace tabled for the Redwood City Library. “I think that the library really does great at being a [third space] for youth, which is something that we very much lack in our community,” Hernandez said. Skate Against Hate offered a similar sense of community. “It’s just nice to see that we’re all under one building and the community comes together,” Wallace said.
While event-goers emphasized standing up to all forms of hate in the community, many paid particularly strong attention to gun violence. “I hope people acknowledge that we need to be kind to each other, and that we need to get active with our legislators about gun violence,” volunteer Leslie Liberatore said.
The Youth Advisory Board played a major role in planning and encouraging people to attend Skate Against Hate. The Chairman of the Board, seventh grader Brandon Torres, helped to run the event alongside other members. “Obviously, [gun violence] is a big issue, and it has a big effect on us and the world,” Torres said.
Many locals arrived at the venue wearing orange, the color of gun violence awareness, not only to skate with friends, but to come together around important community causes. Beyond gun violence, many students also came to protest against hate within their school community that does not involve guns.
“I think it’s important to spread awareness about hate because there’s a lot of things that happen, like bullying,” eighth grader Jim Chicado said.
“As a student, sometimes in school, we see a lot of hate. Sometimes as jokes, but sometimes on purpose, and a lot of people can’t defend themselves or speak up because of fear or their circumstances,” eighth grader Mary Lou Renard said.
“In a world where you can be anything, choose kindness,” Chicado said.
Many participants came with their family members. Lorianne Hammond brought her children and husband along to enjoy an afternoon of skating. “It is a super fun, family-friendly event for a great cause,” Hammond said. “I think that it’s super important for kids and adults, for that matter, to be able to get the resources they need [to deal with hate], and I love that this is a fun way of publicizing all the resources that there are.”
“The thought of gun violence, specifically at school, is every parent’s worst nightmare,” Hammond added. She noted that she did not worry much about gun violence in her childhood, but that it’s becoming a more prevalent issue for children and families.
During the multifaceted, multigenerational skating tradition, Moms Demand Action volunteer Kate Pisano encouraged optimism among guests.
“Love is more powerful than hate. And even though it can seem like we live in dark times, there’s a lot of good out there,” she said.
