Black Ski Jumpers Challenge Stereotypes

World Skydiving Day was celebrated on July 13, and while skydiving has traditionally been a reasonably homogenous activity, some black skydivers are breaking barriers and promoting community and representation in the game. A typical theme amongst those constructing these communities is difficult the stereotype that skydiving is primarily a white activity, encouraging more black people to affix the game.

In 2020, a profile was published on Danielle Williams, a black skydiver and outdoor enthusiast who played a key role in carve spaces for black womenand black people normally, within the skydiving community. The sport has long been perceived as mostly white. Williams shared with us that each time she jumped, or as she described it, visited a drop zone, people often assumed she was a beginner — something she attributed to her race and gender.

Williams said, “Over the years, I’ve realized it has nothing to do with me being new — it has everything to do with my race being the factor that people focus on. We joke about it, but it’s very frustrating.”

Williams eventually founded several groups geared toward bringing together black skydivers and hikers of color: Team Blackstar for skydivers, and Melanin Base Camp, a web based community for black people all in favour of extreme sports reminiscent of mountaineering and climbing.

According to Willis Cooks, like Williams, he created his own space for black skydivers along with his group Fresh Heir Boogie. This initiative, much like Williams’ efforts, began on social media and has grown right into a real community. Cooks founded the group in 2020 after noticing the dearth of black skydivers in drop zones. To have fun its fourth anniversary and World Skydiving Day, Fresh Heir Boogie hosted an event at Skydive Spaceland Houston.

Despite the high cost of their sport, skydivers find something priceless 1000’s of feet above the bottom: peace.

David McCrea, a sommelier and hospitality consultant who went skydiving for the primary time in 2021, described the sensation he had when he went skydiving into . “When you get to that door, your whole body says, ‘Don’t do this,’” McCrea said. “Then you’re in heaven. It’s essentially the most liberating, exhilarating thing I’ve ever felt. You get to limit speed and you’re feeling such as you’re floating on air. I fell in love immediately.”

In 2021 Brenton Lindsey became the primary black person skydiving over the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. Like others working to extend the visibility of black skydivers, Lindsey goals to dispel the stereotype and stigma that skydiving is a white sport. Speaking to the 2021 Lindsey said, “There’s a huge stereotype that skydiving is a white sport. I get misgendered on both sides, but I’m proud of it because it opens the eyes of other people of color that we can do this too. So why are we limiting ourselves? We dominate everything else, so why not this?”