American letter | This won’t be his last rodeo

(Portland, Oregon) By his own admission, his boots are “too pointy,” his hat is “ill-fitting,” and his hands are “too soft.” Whatever. Failing to have the title, Ivan McClellan decided to have the habit.

“In my mind, a cowboy was a white guy, 6 feet 2 inches tall with blue eyes,” the 42-year-old African-American photographer told a hundred people who came to hear him at the Powell’s Books bookstore in Portland.

But when, in 2015, he set foot at the Roy Leblanc Invitional Rodeo in Oklahoma, a previously invisible world opened to his eyes. Black cowboy culture.

A quarter of Western cowboys were African-American in the 19th century^e century, and there has been a black rodeo circuit for a long time. The Roy Leblanc rodeo, which is 67 years old, is the oldest.

It was at the invitation of a friend that McClellan found himself there nine years ago. His life was never the same again.

The athletes, the horses, the bulls, the intensity, the danger, the costumes, the rising earth, all these colors, these movements…

“My soul was touched to the depths, like nothing else had touched it before. I had to go back. »

These years of photography have given Eight Seconds: Black Rodeo Culturewhich has just been published, and which an enthusiastic public had signed by the author that day.

“At first I didn’t dress like that, I would have felt like an impostor. But people told me, “Hey, that’s how we dress here.” So I did like them. I’m not a cowboy, I wear this like a uniform. »

Although not a cowboy, this Portland resident is now the promoter of an annual rodeo at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum. “I would prefer it to be outdoors, but with the rain in Portland, we can’t risk it…”

“I grew up in Kansas City. In front of our house, it was the city, there were gangs and police officers chasing. Out back, we had five acres of yard. There was Mr. Wills, who had five cows. Another neighbor had chickens. After seeing the black rodeos, I realized: Hey! Mr. Wills was a cowboy! I realized, like a gift, that it was part of my culture without knowing it. I had no idea, for me it was totally external. One of my favorite films is a western, Tombstone. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen it. Everyone is white in there, even the horses are white, I think! »

For a long time, African-Americans were excluded from professional rodeos, which gave rise to this parallel scene.

Some people sleep in their car when they go to competitions. Kanesha Jackson, one of the best in the country, lives in a trailer and competes with a $4,000 horse. She competes against white girls who grew up on a farm, whose mother once rodeoed, and who ride horses worth 10 or 20 times that.

Black rodeos offer between $5,000 and $15,000 in purses. The others are rarely under $50,000, and the largest go up to $700,000.

“We managed to find sponsors for Kanesha. She’s going to break through. When you ask her if she has encountered racism, she answers no, she doesn’t see any of that, she is totally invested in her project. If you have money to bet, put it on her! »

The rodeo he organizes is called the Eight Seconds Juneteenth Rodeo. Eight seconds is the time a cowboy must stay on the back of a bull. Juneteenth is the annual commemoration of the emancipation of African-Americans after the Civil War.

At the first edition, his mother came to serve briskets and mac and cheese in the parking lot for tailgate. A way to embrace western culture, but maybe just to embrace your son.

“There are a lot of white cowboys, they are welcome, we are not looking for exclusion,” says Ivan McClellan.

With his other jobs as a graphic designer and photographer, organizing a rodeo is no small task.

“Last year I told my wife, ‘I’m exhausted, this is my last rodeo.’ And then I cried my heart out. She said to me: “Keep going as long as you can.” So let’s start again. For me, it is a spiritual event. »