The first thing you learn is that you’re going to fall. Hard. The inevitably of pain and subsequent triumph is one of the most powerful lessons I got from skating. But it sucks to go through all that and have someone else make you fall.

The recent video footage of a skater get shoved into shrubbery by one of Charleston’s finest neither shocked or even surprised me. Skaters suffer all kinds of harrassment like that on a daily basis. The worst comes from bored and bitter rent-a-cops who aren’t restrained by citizen practices commitees. What is surprising is the national response to it.

From blog to local news to (holy shit!) CNN, this young skater has achieved celebrity from an undiginifed trip to the bushes. I wonder how sympathetic the public really is, though. It’s a good clip and connects with every adolescent memory of getting hassled by the man. But the reponses I’ve heard invariably follow “Yeah she was mean about it, but what he was doing was wrong and illegal. Those guys bring it upon themselves.”

What she did was dangerous, much like the behavior she was trying to stop. But I think her motivation was less about meanness and more about powerlessness and probably resentment. Police have a tough job and don’t get to resolve every situation. So skaters are easy targets. We hang out in public places and submit to the humiliation of falling on our asses on a regular basis. I’ve found that many people truly resent that kind of boldness, because they are incapable of it. She picked on that kid because he was not only ignoring her shrieks, but having fun doing it.

Our public spaces are just that, public. I’m more than happy to have my taxes pay for areas for everyone to enjoy. When these guys go out and skate this park, people are amazed and entertained. You’ll see them lining up to take pictures and shoot video. Those images will be one of the peaks of the show when they get home and show everyone their trip photos. These parks were meant for more than just a walkway between docks and bars with bushes to puke in.

I’ll grant that skating a bench tends to dominate it’s use. So do retirement home daytrip groups, passed out frat boys, elementary school groups, and bedless street folk. To make sure everyone gets fair use, try having a conversation next time. You get what you give, and if you run up screaming and pushing, you won’t get much respect in return.

(final note: Most commenters and journalists have said the skater was ‘grinding around the edge of a bench’. Actually it was a frontside nose manual right down the middle, and a sweet one at that.)