**Anthony Taylor, co-founder of Melanin in Motion, teaches a student to turn and stop on a downward slope for her first time this winter.** Photo by Azhae’la Hanson

By Azhae’la Hanson, Reporter
Anthony Taylor has spent years snowboarding on the slopes of Minnesota, trekking up and down the hills alongside a demographic of athletes who never looked like him.

He remembered the strong urge to do something once his kids started to participate in the sport themselves and they too began to notice the lack of diversity.

“I started snowboarding because I wanted to learn something new and have a new life experience, I wanted my kids to have a new life experience,” Taylor said. “And then I said ‘why not make it more.’”

He asked himself a question about what type of new life experiences that would shape the scope of his life's work: “Who’s not out there?”

And as someone who has been snowboarding for more than decade, the answer was easy.

Taylor co-founded Melanin in Motion with Lynnea Atlas-Ingebretson in 2016 with the goal to connect Black people to active-living opportunities in the outdoors.

**Instructor Bella Ou shows students how to take one foot out of their board to make the journey back up the hill easier.** Photo by Azhae’la Hanson

“We believe that Black bodies in motion are the ultimate expression of freedom,” Taylor said.
Melanin in Motion hosts weekly downhill sports classes at the Trailhead in Theodore With Park for adults, youth, and families that feature lessons in snowboarding and skiing taught by an all BIPOC coaching staff.

“The Trailhead is a perfect location because it’s an accessible park to the Black and Brown communities very close by,” he said. “And usually, parks that have amenities for winter sport activities are further than 30 minutes out.”

Taylor understood that the solution to the lack of diversity wasn’t just about getting Black people to the slopes, it was also everything in between.

There are many barriers, he said, that keep Black and Brown people away: financial, physical access, having a community and the right mentality.

Snowboarding instructor and Northsider Tayvontez Larkins remembered the first time he considered snowboarding.

“There’s a big financial barrier,” Larkins said. “Equipment is crazy expensive.”

Winter is his favorite sport, but aside from sledding, he was often indoors and unsure how to get active. He was always interested in snowboarding, but was deterred by equipment prices that reach the hundreds of dollars with the average lesson beginning at $75 per day.

**Axl Lester, 4, takes his first dip on the hill and successfully makes it to the bottom.** Photo by Azhae’la Hanson

“I wouldn’t be a snowboarding coach or as consistent of a snowboarder as I am now if it weren’t for Anthony,” he said.

Melanin in Motion eliminates the financial barrier for those wishing to learn how to snowboard or ski by charging just $15, or a ”‘pay-what-you-can” fee,” including equipment in the price. The only thing he asks of participants is to bring warm gloves, snow pants, and the eagerness to fail and get back up.

Through the youth programming, Taylor hopes to foster community amongst his groups and include families in the process.

Quint Lester moved himself and his three children to Brooklyn Park from Georgia in 2020 and struggled finding the diversity he was surrounded by in the southern state.

“One thing is missing in Minnesota compared to the south: interacting with people of color especially in places that aren’t dominated by people of color,” Lester said.

**After a long two hours of snowboarding, Cornell took a tumble down the tubing hill for a last rush of adrenaline.** Photo by Azhae’la Hanson

He has three adventurous children - Quinn, 9, Saige, 6, and Axl, 4 - and they needed an outlet to get through the dull winter months. He enrolled Quinn in Saturday lessons last winter and has attended every lesson with her since.

“I came here with Quinn at first and, of course, I brought along my two younger kids,” Lester said. “We came around so much that eventually, Saige wanted to join, and so did Axl.”

But it wasn’t just his kids. Lester also took an interest in snowboarding. He joined the adult lessons that meet every Friday evening.

“Stuff like this makes the cold more bearable,” he said. “It helps keep my kids active in the winter, and I have a place where I can meet people of color, which is less isolating for me.”

Lester found the community he was looking for in Melanin in Motion for himself and his children and is grateful Taylor allowed him to be a part of his daughter's lesson in the first place.

“Saige is 6 years old and these classes are supposed to be 8 and up,” Lester said. “But because we were coming as a family, Anthony [Taylor] made sure we still got to be a part of this.”

**Students from Taylor’s Wednesday night class prepare to take on a big hill at the Elm Creek Winter Recreation Area.** Photo by Azhae’la Hanson

This year, Axl grew big enough to receive his first snowboarding lesson alongside his big sisters. He took on the bunny hill and successfully made it down, laughing and crashing into the open arms of his father.

“When we provide anything, we don’t want to violate the parental authority, we don’t want to contribute the narrative of kids getting these basic services for someone else and exclude the parent,” said Taylor. “I don’t want you to just drop your kid off and disappear, I want you to learn alongside them, and stay engaged and be present throughout the entire process, so that kids can understand that they can get resources from and with their parents.”

Taylor wants to encourage people to get past their fears of the cold and focus on having a good experience.

Every Wednesday for six weeks, Melanin in Motion takes a group of Northside youth to the Elm Creek Winter Recreation area in Maple Grove to teach snowboarding.

Among the youth in attendance is eighth-grader Kailey Bell, who mainly dedicated time to express herself through rap and creative writing. Now in her fourth week of snowboarding lessons, she’s considering keeping up with the sport.

“I’m falling a lot but I'm having fun,” she said. “I didn’t think I would try something like this, but I’m happy I did.”

Melanin in Motion gives Black and Brown people a taste of winter sports