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yeyo

Is skydiving a race thing?

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Here's a thread from last spring on this subject.

As another data point, the US Census (would they lie to you?) says that about 12.8% of the US population is black and about 80.4% is white. In other words, _if_ US skydivers had the same mix as the general population, then the average 10-way would have something like 8 white jumpers, 1 black jumper, and one jumper of some other race, probably Asian. But, you could use the same logic to argue that half of all jumpers should be women, and that clearly isn't the case.

Eule
PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

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A friend for Maryland was visiting the island a couple of months ago. Hes blacker than the night, and I was trying to convince him to do a tandem. He said "get this in your big white head, brothers dont jump out of planes".
I was thinking of a come-back, but nothing came to mind. In our DZ theres only 1 black guy, but hes not normal :P heheh. I dont remember seeing any other brother in any picture or in any movie.
Is it true that brothers dont jump out of planes?
Whats your experience in your DZ?



Several of my black friends have referred to skydiving as being a "Very white" activity. IE: "That is very white of you" "White people are the only ones that do crazy shit like that" etc... Even a korean friend of mine said "Only white people do that shit." They are mostly kidding but their attitude seems to be the standard.

Wesley Snipes was pushed out of the plane in that movie. He had a tandem harness on and no parachute. I think there was a racial reference to black people not jumping out of anything in that movie too.

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Here's a thread from last spring on this subject.

As another data point, the US Census (would they lie to you?) says that about 12.8% of the US population is black and about 80.4% is white. In other words, _if_ US skydivers had the same mix as the general population, then the average 10-way would have something like 8 white jumpers, 1 black jumper, and one jumper of some other race, probably Asian. But, you could use the same logic to argue that half of all jumpers should be women, and that clearly isn't the case.

Eule



Strangely enough in *mostly* white Utah...our DZ follows the census numbers pretty darn close. Coupla black guys that are regulars, an Asian woman, me, my wife (also indigenous), a mid-eastern guy, and a few Hispanic folks.
Interesting question, but IMO, it also speaks pretty loudly about the cultural differences of Anglo America and the rest of the citizenship. But that's for another thread.:P

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if these figures are true then, bwoy...haven't us brits got a lot of catching up to do!!
Here in the UK we have only experienced the emergence of ethnic minorities e.g afro-carribean, eastern asian, africans, chinese in the past 50 years...communities here are starting the commise with the British influences therefore integrating with the influencial lifestyles of Anglo-ism!?!?

As a black woman of jamaican descent I believe that there was a skydiving ethos to individuals perceiving skydivers to be crazy-white ass idiots!!--
B$lloc*ks to that now!! The idealisms of skydivers isn't a race ting at all, its about creating and spreading the influences to generate the interest and make people, whatever race, believe that it is possible for anyone who has that potential, to do this amazing sport. From what I've seen and gathered, we are there and maybe hidden from the individuals who dare to be blinded by this occurence....but hey... give a massive welcoming to emergence of skydiving multiculturalism!!!

:oB|

'embellished in pretty blue skies..now thats what I call a good %$*&!!'

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Given the fact that skydiving is inordinately represented by white folks, I've wondered if the professional race agitators such as J. Jackson might ever try to stir up some trouble. I believe they tried to use this tactic to intimidate the NASCAR enthusiasts, but last I heard nobody seemed willing to take such threats seriously. Good for them. (Toyota, watch & learn...)

We're probably too small a percentage of the population to attract their attention, but you never know.

Personally, I have no use for this crap. The easiest way to be called a bigot in America is to treat black people just like everyone else. I don't play that game. In fact, I attracted a bit of accusatory attention last January by posting a tongue-in-cheek thread regarding MLK day. Several people wondered if I harbored any unkind racial attitudes, and seemed determined not to accept any explanation that would lead them to conclude that I don't. Life gets interesting when you refuse to tap dance on eggshells for anyone.

Cheers,
Jon S.

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We have plenty of Mexican/Hispanic and Asian skydivers in So Cal, but still very few Blacks, which is just a shame really as the few who I've known have been just as much fun as anyone else to jump with.

But your story is funny, because a black friend of mine years ago asked me "What IS it with white people that they have to do foolish things like climb mountains, swim with sharks, and jump out of airplanes ?"

Never mind that history now finds that Matthew Hemsley (an aide to Admiral Robt Peary), actually set foot on the South Pole ahead of Peary.

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

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Hey Chuck Monkey, does being half black count for anything?


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Just off the top of my head I can think of seven very-experienced black jumpers at Raeford. Three of them are tandem instructors. Ultimately, in my opinion, people are going to get involved in activities that they get exposed to locally and those which their friends or colleagues partake in. It has positively nothing to do with race, at least around here.

Chuck

Edited to add quickly that my number just went up to nine, with five being tandem instructors and at least three being AFF instructors. That's just here locally.


Leroy


..I knew I was an unwanted baby when I saw my bath toys were a toaster and a radio...

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The question that I need to ask is why in the world care weather someone is black, while, brown, green.

I could care less what color someone is, as long as they treat everyone the same. This has no color. Basic human respect.

What gets me is people who believe that somone owes them something because of there race. No, this is not a racial tone but somone that thinks that they are owed when they have not paid there dues or done anything.

In the text Ive seen alot of differnet races and cultures that jump and scuba dive. Does it matter really to anyone what color there are. No.
Kenneth Potter
FAA Senior Parachute Rigger
Tactical Delivery Instructor (Jeddah, KSA)
FFL Gunsmith

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The question that I need to ask is why in the world care weather someone is black, while, brown, green.

I could care less what color someone is, as long as they treat everyone the same. This has no color. Basic human respect.

What gets me is people who believe that somone owes them something because of there race. No, this is not a racial tone but somone that thinks that they are owed when they have not paid there dues or done anything.

In the text Ive seen alot of differnet races and cultures that jump and scuba dive. Does it matter really to anyone what color there are. No.




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I couldn't agree more!:)

As long as the whether is good, LETS JUMP!;)












The Pessimist says: "It can't possibly get any worse!"
The Optimist says: "Sure it can!"

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I always feel strange when I hear (read) people speaking or writing about "races".

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Since the 1940s, evolutionary scientists have rejected the view of race according to which a number of finite lists of essential characteristics could be used to determine a like number of races. Many evolutionary and social scientists think common race definitions, or any race definitions pertaining to humans, lack taxonomic rigour and validity. They argue that race definitions are imprecise, arbitrary, derived from custom, and that the races observed vary according to the culture examined. They further maintain that "race" as such is best understood as a social construct, and conceptualize and analyze human genotypic and phenotypic variation in terms of populations and clines instead. Other scientists, however, have argued that this position is motivated more by political than scientific reasons.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race

Then I just read that it is part of folk taxonomy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_taxonomy), and as such kind of inaccurate:
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Folk taxonomies are generated from social knowledge and are used in everyday speech. They are distinguished from scientific taxonomies that claim to be disembedded from social relations and thus objective and universal.



For no one would openly make the analogy between white/black human and teckel/rottweiller... would you?

I agree with marc, although it sounds cheesy. The race's name is: human.
"We call on the common man to rise up in revolt against this evil of typographical ignorance."
http://bancomicsans.com

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Is skydiving a race thing?


Yeah, I think so, but usually the plane wins... :P

Pull lower :| :D:D:D

*disclaimer mode on* this was a joke, not an advertisement for low pulls *disclaimer mode off*
scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

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I always feel strange when I hear (read) people speaking or writing about "races".



It's fine if "race" may not be a strong taxonomic term and it isn't as important genetically as some think.

But... while the post may well be an accurate comment on a term being used in this discussion, I wanted to say that it doesn't really change the discussion so far. Race is still a convenient label, a first approximation or indirect measure of sometimes different cultural backgrounds. Nobody here is really suggesting any inherent genetic differences in regard to interest or ability in skydiving. ('white men can't jump/black men can't fall')

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('white men can't jump/black men can't fall')



Now that's funny . . . I've only seen 2 students at STI that were black. But most recently, we've been getting a lot of East Indians coming out for tandems. This has been a white male dominated sport for a long time, but the tides seem to be changing. I just hope more women stick through their student progressions to get their Solo CoP's.

The bonfire is always a sausage fest . . .:o:S:(:(:S:o
You think you understand the situation, but what you don't understand, is that the situation just changed.

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I don't remember him being in any races but I knew a Black guy who used to jump a lot - years ago - not so much now. Had thousands of jumps - he did. Oh! Oh! - wait a minute - that was me!

_________________________________________
The older I get, the better I was!

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Out of 500+ jumps I have been in a skydiving plane with a black vidiot once. I have jumped a few times with asian jumpers. of course I jump in kansas, which isn't well known for ethic diversity.

So in my experience, skydiving is definitely filled with white males. But its something I would like to change. I think all females regardless of race should be jumping (topless preferably) :P

MB 3528, RB 1182

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