Racial Slurs Hurled At Surfer In Manhattan Beach; His Response?

MANHATTAN BEACH, CA — Two Black surfers near the Manhattan Beach Pier yesterday morning are recounting their experience in a nearly 38-minute Instagram video post. In the post, Brick details the scenario that led to him being called the N word and splashed by a white male adult who intervened in a conversation he had not been a part of.

Brick and his surfing buddy Gage were just north of the Manhattan Beach Pier near a group of white 16- and 17-year-old surfers, a few of whom they've seen frequently when surfing in that spot. One of the teen surfers and Brick will typically fist bump in the water and greet one another pleasantly.

On this occasion, one of the white teens cut off Brick. "He looked me in the eyes," said Brick, "and cuts me off" as Brick was dropping into a wave. Brick inadvertently hit "something" with his board but since he felt the teen had knowingly and blatantly cut him off, he turned back out to attempt to catch more waves.

"I'm new. I'm decent," said Brick, who decided to surf 8 months ago. "I can get some waves." He noted that the kid who cut him off "put himself in harm's way," adding that he [Brick] is "non-confrontational."

Then, as Brick is heading back out as an approaching wave is looming large, the teen he's used to fist bumping is trying to catch the wave Brick is trying not to have crash on him. So, the teen has to abort his attempt to catch the wave. Standard procedure in the world of surfing, explained Brick. "I'm trying to get over the wave. Sometimes, you're just in the wrong spot."

So, the kid Brick has had a friendly relationship with yells at him: "Awh, get the f@@@ out of the way." Brick, who figures the youth is "feeling spicy" because he's surfing with his buddies, tells the surfer, "Hey bro, I don't tolerate disrespect." He informs the kid not to talk to him like that. The teen surfer continues on his way, as though it's no big deal.

However, it's at this point that "party number 3 enters," said Brick in the Insta video. This new person is one of the teens surfing with the teen they are friendly with and he says to Brick and Gage, "Oh, you guys need to chill out. This is a local's beach."

So, as Brick is sitting on his board in the ocean facing the remaining three teen surfers, Brick finds himself feeling "awkward. I'm just trying to surf," he noted. The third teen has inserted himself into a conversation he wasn't part of and the friendly surfer "disappears," said Brick.

"His [the friendly teen surfer] homie Cody [the name Brick gives to party #3] tries to be tough. Now I look like an annoying black boy arguing with three white boys in the water," Brick notes.

"This is where the violation begins," notes Brick, detailing how an adult white male appears from "nowhere" and tells Brick and Gage, "Yeah, you know I think you should down the water a bit. Go down to El Porto. You don't belong here."

Brick, who has been calm and non-confrontational, he notes, asks the man to paddle in so they can talk about it on shore. The man says, "Oh, you're threatening me now?" and refuses the request. Then the man says, "My N word, paddle in." And the man uses the N word repeatedly in the conversation from then on.

"It was novelty to me," Brick says in the video. "I'm totally unaffected by that. I've never heard this." Then the man inserts the word "donkey" into the conversation, calling Brick and Gage "Donkeys."

The man also begins "violently splashing me in the face and calling me N word," Brick notes.

From there, in the video, Brick explains more about how he feels about racism and how he intends to surf the same spot over and over again.

And as it turns out, a Black man on the pier took photos of the incident and gave them to Brick afterward. A white man, who Brick thinks is about 60, approaches him on the shore, telling him that he is sorry for what has happened and that this sort of thing doesn't happen in Manhattan Beach.

For his part, throughout the video, Brick, who is Justin "Brick" Howze aka Super Duper Brick or Super Brick, and known as a creative director, photographer, videographer, record producer, songwriter, and DJ, speaks calmly as he relates the tale on video.

There's little doubt that the man who confronted him in the water, calling him the N word "about 30 times" and splashed water at him, did not know who he was interacting with. Brick has 73,000+ followers on Instagram, and, according to DJBooth.net, is known for having "made a name for himself with bright, joyous sounds and intricately-choreographed live shows, encouraging cheesy smiles and summertime nostalgia." Brick is also a founding member of the Los Angeles-based hip-hop collective, “Super Duper” crew along with Kyle, “Eric”, “Jesus”, “Maxx”, and “Nolan”.

Manhattan Beach Patch has reached out to Brick for comment.

Brick's video can be seen here.

The photos snapped by the photographer on the Manhattan Beach Pier can be seen here.