As one of the small numbers of prominent black men and women in the game of paintball , do you find it a place of refuge or are you treated differently ?
As long as I can remember paintball has always been proud to claim there ’ s no racism — it pats itself on the back for claiming it doesn ’ t care about your race , religion , politics , or where you work . As a black man who has done this since 1996 I can tell you my experience , and what I ’ ve seen as a whole , and it may offend some , and surprise others .
I have played many sports in my life … soccer , basketball , hockey , skateboarder , golf , and I ’ ve had the fortune of growing up in very diverse areas . My best friends to this day consist of Black , Polish , Sikh , Jewish , and Muslim . Even though I ’ ve still experienced a lot of racism as I grew up , there have been many times I ’ ve gone to prestigious golf courses , gotten the look , been followed around the pro shop , and been questioned if my clubs belonged to me ... so when I first walked on to a paintball field I had no expectations . The truly funny part is , I didn ’ t even realize there was no racism when I played until years later , because I was too busy having fun !
Years after when I began growing in popularity , Team Cobra invited me down to a game in Texas to cover it in Action Pursuit Games magazine and a family member was worried because they heard stories of racism down South . Now mind you I had already been to Texas a couple times because I was the manager of a jewelry store called “ Peoples ” and the head office was there , where I had a couple of unfortunate profiling instances .... But subconsciously I didn ’ t even think twice about it because paintballers are family ! Team Cobra got me at the airport , we camped together , talked at the fire pit paintball . media magazine