Summary Langley - Essay Example

Full Half Criminals or Urban Athletes? A Plea for Fair Treatment of Skateboarders David Langley’s essay en d “Half Criminals” or Urban Athletes? A Plea for Fair Treatment of Skateboarders proclaims his cry for the law-making bodies to take a deeper look at their dilemma and attend to it accordingly. His experience of being frisked and detained for twenty minutes by a police officer when skating at the University of California sparked this plea when he realized the vagueness of the rules and regulations about skateboarding.

He was surprised for the police officer’s treatment of him, being considered like a criminal when he was just skating with his friends. He attacked the general perception of adults and other law abiding citizens towards skateboarders from his experience and observations. He pointed out first, his experience with the police officer who treated him unfairly because he was detained for a reason contrary to what was posted on the billboard about skating rules (Bean, Johnson, and Ramage 141). Secondly, he opened his grieving heart in reaction to the treatment they get as if they are criminals to be feared, being kicked out by storeowners and police officers from their skating spots (Bean et al. 141). Thirdly, he also commented on the ambiguity of the rules on skateboarding areas as one officer whom he interviewed answered what he would do about a scenario the author presented.

When he sees a skater sliding down a handrail with people all around, the police officer said he will arrest that person and even in case there are no people around (Bean et al. 142). This makes the author question the clarity of the rules. Nevertheless, Langley also admired the efforts of concerned bodies of providing them with skating areas in parks. However, even to this they are grieving because the skating areas are designed by non-skaters who do not know the needs of the sport. He then cries for skating areas designed by skaters who know the essentials in the game and that they should be treated as athletes rather than criminals.

Reference Bean, John C., June Johnson and John D. Ramage. Writing Arguments, Brief Edition: A Rhetoric with Readings. New York: Longman, 2009. Print