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dzolloyd

African American Skydivers

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Why are so many barbers Italian? Why are so many parking lot attendants Carribean? Why are so many dry cleaners Korean or Chinese? Why are so many bar owners Irish? Why do so many 7-11 and Dunkin' Donuts owners hail from India? Why do so few black Americans skydive?



Head over to your local university library and browse the history section. The answers are within...they're not all that mysterious.



Uh..you do understand the concept of an academic question, don't you?



Why don't you explain it to me? :|

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only the Mexicans and Natives are the only original people of this land, the rest are all immigrants.

BSBD C-yaB|



To the question of who immigrated where, if I remember correctly, the entire human race started in Africa and then dissipated into Asia and then into Europe where they successfully exterminated local Neanderthal and became the only surviving race on earth.... Later, American continents were colonized/inhabited by indiginous people from what is now called Siberia during the last ice-age when the Barring strait was frozen. Does that make us all African-American?

I might be wrong, but I thought that black people in general don't do much outdoors at all. I don't see many blacks on the ski slopes or biking outside or even just hiking in the mountains. I was always curious why...it's not that I think it's a bad thing or anything, to each their own, right? I saw only one black skydiver, he is a badass freeflier :)

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dzolloyd

How many licensed African/American skydivers do you have at your DZ? Approximately how many black 1st timers per year?



I never saw one at my original DZ, but that was a small club in the upper midwest.

Saw a couple at Eloy during the holiday boogie a few years back, and I've seen one at Elsinore once I think.

I've never seen one in Australia.
cavete terrae.

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Back in '63 at a MEPA meet at Lakehurst Navel Base (where they kept the blimps in the '30's and where the Hindenberg caught fire), met Ted Taylor a very low D license holder (they were around 200 at the time). He was a jumpmaster for the student accuracy event. He was also competing. I believe it was either Ted Taylor or Mac McGraw who commandered the last C-47 load of the day. We were jumping style event from 7500' agl late in the day when the pilot (military) received word from the ground that it was past sunset and the load must land with all the remaining jumpers. A word (Mac or Ted) was had with the pilot and we climbed to 13,000 and all exited on one pass, about 14-15. First time I had ever been above 7500' or been in the sky with another jumper. Ted Taylor was in the door hustling us all out. I believe he jumped with Navy Shootin' Stars Skydiving Team for a while. A real nice guy too.

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SkymonkeyONE

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I know (and have jumped with) four African American skydivers. All four of them are white.



:ph34r::ph34r::ph34r:EXACTLY!!:ph34r::ph34r: You can't swing a dead cat in Florida without hitting an African American skydiver. Hell, the practically run the industry! As this is a site owned and operated by an African who previously lived in America, I think it's preposterous to use the "african american" term at all to refer to black people. Again, ones race, color, or creed has no bearing on whether or not they choose to jump out of planes or if I choose to partake of the activity with them. I am great friends with a lot of black skydivers. I am ALSO great friends with a lot of white African skydivers who happen to live in the USA.

Chuck


I always find this interesting. When you ask a "white" person what their ancestry is except for Italians you usually don't even get American appended to it. Why isn't that preposterous? It's the same thing. Using a continent instead of a country is because most "African Americans" don't know which country in Africa they came from so they resorted to using the continent, because can be pretty sure of that fact. The funniest thing about this nonsense is that both sides omit the European in our ancestry. Is it silly? You betcha, but so is the hypocrisy of acting like Americans of European descent behave in a different fashion.

Edit to add that Humans love to play Star Belly Sneetchs. and this is what you end up with. I'm sure America is not the only place that has to deal with this self created conundrum.

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In the six or seven years that I jumped a lot. I was the only first timer that continued at SSM. On average I saw maybe 10 tandems and 1 or 2 AFF's a year during that time. Since then I have seen one continue at SSM, one at SDT, and read of one at Lexington. My first tandem master was African American(Corey you rock). Unfortunately there are self imposed cultural barriers to a lot of sports. I won't even try to have the discussion on this board, but the psychology is interesting to say the least.

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I wasn't born and raised in the ghetto, nor did I have the urge to call it quits right after high school. I go to college at Kansas State, finishing up my pilot major while also in the Air National Gaurd.

Personally, when I went to dropzones in California, they didn't look at my skin color, they just saw me as another person who wanted to jump. Who is to say that because of my ethnic and/or racial decent that I don't want as much of an adrenaline release than anybody else? I have seen many other people from all different races that have been adamant about not skydiving even a tandem. I think I do have more excitement than some people. I have had my private pilot's license for almost a year, joined the Air National Gaurd as an an aircraft specialist (AFSC: 2A656) over a year ago, love riding motorcycles, and just got my A-License for skydiving.

And yes SkymonkeyONE, I have been laughing my ass off

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