Black Derby Collective made history in its debut season — the first all-Black, borderless team sanctioned by the Women's Flat Track Derby Association — and it's headed to the WFTDA Global Championships in Malmö, Sweden, this October.

Erica sits down with co-founder Blaque Jac, Blaxyl Rose, and Winter Olympian Erin Jackson to talk about how the team came together, the "all-star team" criticism they've had to push back on, what it means to finally skate on a team where the majority of skaters look like you, and the personal stories — a serious accident, a crossover from speed skating, a hometown league — behind three very different roads into roller derby.

Want to help send them to Sweden?
BDC's online auction to fund the trip is live now!

Timestamps

• 00:00 – Meet the guests, Blaque Jac and Erin Jackson, and a crash course on what roller derby actually is
• 02:00 – The origin of Black Derby Collective, from an idea Blaque Jac had with fellow skater Markeisha Winters
• 05:08 – Blaxyl Rose on being the only Black skater in her early league — and what changed once she moved to Atlanta
• 08:48 – Erin Jackson on going from inline skating to roller derby, and getting the call to join BDC
• 10:52 – Blaque Jac responds directly to the "all-star team" criticism and explains why BDC isn't raiding other leagues
• 14:17 – Blaxyl Rose on intersectionality, scrutiny, and why "we deserve to exist"
• 18:03 – What BDC brings to every track they step on, and the line that stuck: "Black people are good at roller derby"
• 21:00 – How WFTDA regions and Champs work — and how qualifying became the goal almost by accident
• 23:13 – Derby 101: jammers, blockers, pivots, and how scoring actually works
• 26:01 – Blaxyl Rose on the accident that nearly ended her derby career, and what recovery taught her about what's possible
• 28:22 – When each of them fell in love with roller derby — a gym sponsorship, a college trip to watch Champs in 2012, a hometown team in 2009
• 33:00 – Comparing an MVP trophy to helping build something bigger than herself