Sisterhood in Skates
By Emily Clarke
What did you do during the 2020 lockdown? Sisters Rosy Aranda (Cahuilla / Serrano) and Rachel Cabrera (Cahuilla / Serrano) started RaRa Roller Babes, a roller skating group for Native women. RaRa Roller Babes skate “anywhere and everywhere with smooth ground,” and are based in Riverside, California. Rosy and Rachel used to skate as kids but lost touch with it throughout adulthood. Then, during the pandemic, they were “just sitting around doing nothing,” and decided to rekindle their relationships with roller skating and have been skating together and with the other RaRa Roller Babes as often as possible ever since.
“I remember getting my first pair of Barbie skates in ‘86,” Rosy reminisces and Rachel agrees, “Skating just brings back memories of them fun, free days when we were kids.”
Rosy tells me that during lockdown, Rachel used to send her videos of herself skating circles around the inside of her studio apartment, and that sparked the idea to start skating together regularly. So Rosy and Rachel began skating at least twice a week and soon, friends and family (including Rosy’s daughter Abby) started joining in. The RaRa Roller Babes started hosting “sip and skate” nights in which they brought a boombox to parks around the Inland empire and jammed out while they skated. The sisters assure me that they don’t care to be considered “good” or even to look cool, as long as the right song is on, they’re focused on having fun and bonding with one another.
“When we tell people we skate, it’s almost like a nostalgic thing. It just draws people in because it’s not something new, it’s something that’s coming back. We probably all had parents or someone in our family who roller skated. It’s a feel good kind of thing, and people can relate to that,” Rachel says.
RaRa Roller Babes take the time to post videos and pictures of them skating on their Instagram page (@rara.rollerbabes) because Native skate groups aren’t very common. They began using the hashtag #shredinbeauty (a tag for Native skaters on social media) when it popped up on their social media one day, but are still sometimes the odd ones out because they use roller skates rather than skateboards. Rosy and Rachel recognize the importance of sisterhood and of staying healthy as Native women, which is why skating has become such a huge part of their lives.
`“It takes a tough person to take the falls that we take as skaters, but if you think about our ancestors and what they did just to survive, you realize what strong women they were. So being able to learn to skate and dominate the skill gives value to the power that native women and women in general have,” Rosy says.
Rosy and Rachel are always encouraging the women in their lives, especially the Native ones, to learn to skate. Rosy even keeps extra pairs of skates to offer to friends who want to learn. She says she tells new skaters not to be shy or embarrassed about where they start from because she believes the less they focus on being a good skater, the more fun they’re going to have. Rosy’s daughter, eighteen year old Abby is also a member of RaRa Roller Babes and has been known to take a rough fall or two. However, she learned from her mom and aunt to get back up after the falls and continue having a good time.
“We’ve had some pretty hard falls, but the best part is laughing it off and still having fun,” Abby says.
As Native women, we are used to the “falls” of life, but what makes us so resilient is the strength we all possess and utilize when it’s time to get back on our feet.
“Don’t be afraid to fall and don’t be afraid to take up space,” Rosy says when asked what advice she has for other Native women learning to skate, “it’s okay to do both when you’re learning.”
Rosy, Rachel, and Abby post videos and photos of their skate sessions on Instagram (@rara.rollerbabes) and invite all of you to interact with them on social media, send them a message asking for advice, and skate around Riverside with them. Rosy and Rachel have an obvious passion for not only skating, but for their communities and the healing process of many Native women around them. So, if you ever find yourself “just sitting around doing nothing,” get yourself a pair of skates and go jam out with the RaRa Roller babes. They’d love to meet you.
