Your favorite pro likely isn’t held accountable. There are several pro climbers out there who hold THEMSELVES accountable, and do a damned good job of it. But the sponsors, the photographers and filmmakers, their friends and fans - we don’t hold them accountable. We should.

Last week I was shown a video shot and edited by Chad Greedy in 2010, part of which included a young Daniel Woods trying The Game. In the video, we hear Wu-Tang in the background. Chad very casually repeats the lyrics, “Shame on a N**** “ (not singing along, just repeating them back), and Daniel follows suit.

It had nearly 28,000 views. Only one comment about the use of a racist slur. One comment said “best climbing video ever.”

You can see the video at www.powercompanyclimbing.com/blog/n-word  I post the video not to shame Daniel or the other climbers involved. I post it here to point out how casual it all is. Nobody seems bothered. This is 100% part of the reason why Black climbers don’t feel comfortable at the crag. And then a video was edited - with this clip purposely left in - and they assumed that it was fine to post it on Youtube. WHY?

Because they’ve never had to be accountable.

In this episode Nate and I discuss the timeline of events of contacting sponsors and talking to Daniel, and the thought process we went through - which in itself is problematic. I’ll be unpacking my own thoughts and actions for a while. We went from destructive to constructive to secretive back to constructive. A podcast with Daniel was scheduled, which he ultimately backed out of after realizing he was woefully unprepared. Now here we are.

Tell your friends. Fuck racism.

 

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