surfing

One LA native’s desire to change the landscape of surfing led him to create Color The Water initiative, free surf lessons for BIPOC.

This Tuesday, Sept 22nd one local man is going to solo paddle on a surfboard 12 miles from Inkwell beach, Santa Monica to the Malibu Pier to pay homage to Nick Galbadon, the first Black/Latino surfer in Los Angeles who was known to routinely paddle to Malibu to surf because he was not allowed on the beach.

Sand and salt water are usually always on the agenda for David Malana, but this summer has been much busier than usual.  He came up with the idea of Color the Water after going to a surf paddle out event for George Floyd, a Minnesota man who died at the hands of white police officers in May. 

The San Dimas native noticed very few people of color, and for those that were there that day, the disparity of surfing levels between the white surfers and those of color were starkly different. 

“That was supposed to be a call to action not the action in and of itself, so in that way how do I make this…these anti-racists sentiments part of my daily practice.” Malana said. 

David’s heart for others is hardwired in his soul. He has traveled the world, serving in the Peace Corps for five years after college and now teaches media literacy. He also founded a non-profit in honor of his late mother.  He decided to give free surf lessons, and take photos and videos for Black Indigenous people of color, or BIPOC. 

When asked about what it means to be a true ally, Malana replied, “…and so that is where I was trying to make sure that it wasn’t performative, and also because media was involved, I didn’t want it to be where I give one lesson, get the pictures and post it online. I wanted to develop autonomous surfers.” 

After Black Surfers Instagram posted a photo of David’s announcement, the community started to grow.

“So Its been really organic, I am really proud that the leadership of it also is majority Black.”

When I asked him about how he identifies as an ally to the cause, he said, “Black leadership is crucial in a project like this, where me as an Asian-American man, the best that I can do is to be an intermediary in this racial struggle. My father, enjoyed a lot of the rights that he has off of the back of the civil rights movement where the sacrifices were made mostly by the black population. And so, in that way, I am very aware of who I am, and who I am not.”

One of the leaders and co-founders of Color the Water is David’s friend Liz Jackson, an active travel guide, is usually somewhere outdoors leading trips around world but since the pandemic began, the Native Angelino has been home and wanted to contribute to the cause.  

Jackson encourages just doing it, “It literally starts with a hashtag, you know, David put out this hashtag, Color the Water, and all of a sudden people started showing up. And when we are out in the water people you know there are people that are walking by asking what’s going on and asking questions. You don’t have to have a big business plan or anything. Just throw it out there in the world and see how people respond to it.”

I asked him about his goals for the future of the initiative. David replied, “Our dream of dreams is to be able to have our own headquarters and to really be a surf house. A place where we can commune, analyze media, we can do more creative media that helps every person in this intersectional group, speak their truth, while we show their surfing journey; to legitimize and solidify the space so that it is truly sustainable.”

The response to Color the Water is one that David hopes will make waves for as long as they can.