A generation of Native American youth is growing up with skate parks, and thanks in part to Douglas Miles Jr., who is changing recreational landscapes one concrete pour at a time.
As a professional skateboarder, filmmaker, and business owner, Miles Jr. works alongside his father, Miles Douglas Sr., at Apache Skateboards. He also runs his own company, Indellica, where he produces video content, builds skateparks, and provides cultural consulting.
“All of that together makes what we do special,” Miles Jr. says. “Because there’s no market for that.”
A Skateboarder Shaped by His Roots
Miles Jr. first discovered skateboarding at 12 years old, when his friends in junior high wouldn’t stop talking about Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. He wanted to hang out with them, so Miles Jr. started skating.
What began as an after-school hobby eventually became something bigger. Growing up, Miles Jr. found that skateboarding gave him the freedom to roam with his friends and find his own way. “It’s free,” he shares. “You get to wander around with your friends, go wherever you want. You just have fun.”
Finding a New Path
He enrolled at Mesa Community College (MCC) because it was accessible and affordable, two things that mattered growing up on a reservation where resources are limited. After all, it’s where his father chose to attend college to study art and social work, and where other family members did, too. Stepping on MCC’s campus for the first time, Miles Jr. didn’t have a plan for what he wanted to study. A counselor suggested social sciences.
“When I started to discover Malcolm X, I began to look around and think more critically,” Miles Jr. shares. “I began to look around for where our Apache Malcolm X was. “Where was that power? Where were those images?”
He found the answer closer to home in his father’s art, his cousins’ work, and in recalling the skateboard Miles Sr. designed for him when he started skateboarding years earlier. Apache Skateboards, founded by his father in 2002, features Apache warriors on its decks. No one had seen that type of imagery in skateboarding before.
“It brought a sense of pride,” Miles Jr. recalls. “It opened up possibilities for what could be done in skateboarding.”
Building Spaces that Inspire the Next Generation
Miles Jr. and his father have traveled to Native American reservations, doing skateboarding demonstrations and connecting with communities. He has helped build skate parks on the San Carlos Apache Reservation and is currently working on one for the White Mountain Apache Reservation. These community spaces are designed around the simple idea: let people show up and have fun.
For Miles Jr., skateboarding has taught him the greatest lesson of all: to keep trying, trying, and trying until you land your tricks and not give up on your dreams.
“If I could just inspire one kid to chase his dreams, that’s it. I did my job,” says Miles Jr.
That’s exactly the opportunity Maricopa Community Colleges offers: guidance and resources to turn dreams into reality. Learn more at maricopa.edu.