Haitian sailors and equal opportunities

[jimi]

But ..

I do'nt think its just sailing .. rockclimbing and surfing to name just two of the sports I've participated in do'nt have their fair share of ethnic minorities either. In neither case do I blame the existing participants in these activities. In most cases they would welcome anyone with a genuine interest. I rather think the reasons for non participation lie more in the perceptions and cultures of the non-participants than in the attitudes of existing participants.

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[claymore]

Can we assume...

That this particular Captain of Industry has a bit of time on his hands today?

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Claymore
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[Peppermint]

Re:OK I\'ve been next door to see Brian

He says it's cos we're mad and W.Indians are'nt.

Why on earth would he, from Jamaica, want to sail around here. It's cold, wet and not very scenic. Would he get paid? Whats the cargo? Is he fishing? Well why go then?

I saw a black guy on a UKSA boat a couple of weekends ago.

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[Magic_Sailor]

But why....

even change the title.

When I first read it I was a little shocked - wrongly so. When I read the post itself it was full of praise for these people and asking why more black people are not seen in sailing - perfectly valid question in itself.

In our household we regularly refer to black people and white people. There is nothing derogatory about this at all. Black people also call themselves black - in fact it's worn as a badge of pride - remember black power. My Son (when a nipper) said to one of his mates that if he got any more freckles he'd be black. Both he and his mate were messing around - he was stating a fact. A teacher overheard and a note was made on my Son's file that he had made a racist remark. He was branded a racist because he used language in common everyday use with no stigma attached whatsover.

I don't object to being called white.

This is precisely the reason for my previous posts on PC and it makes my blood boil.

Whether a word is derogatory depends upon the context in which it is used. For instance - I remember talking to a neighbour who had recently returned from working in the South African mining industry. He said he wasn't racist and that he "always looked after his black's". Now that's racist and thorougly despicable. It also makes my blood boil.

The original poster's wording was not IMHO derogatory as the body of the post demonstrated.


Magic

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[claymore]

Re: But why....

Magic
Perhaps you don't mind being called white because as such and living here, you are not the subject of racist abuse.
Perhaps it would be different if you were in another country where the scales were tipped the other way.
There is a fine line between political correctness - of which you are often an eloquent champion and plain old fashioned racism.

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Claymore
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[kimhollamby]

Why...

...I did was simple. The header post is the one that always arrives on the homepages of ybw.com and Yachting Monthly. It had clearly caught the attention of thankfully responsible people but it might have equally caught the attention of some irresponsible people and attracted some very unhelpful comment which would have lead to the thread getting canned.

I very rarely have the misfortune of having to deal with racist comments on this forum and thank those who have both posted and e-mailed me for their views on this subject.

Throwing in my ha-penny worth, boating as an interest tends to migrate either through the generations of a family or across close friends. That might be a reason why ethnic minorities in Britain are not particularly prevelant out on the water. Access via schools has never been poorer; many of the schools sailing programmes are now completely canned, or severely curtailed, both due to health and safety grounds and of course -- budget and time. So younger generations simply don't have the same opportunities to get afloat.

Over in the US there has been quite a study of the failure of boating to appeal to people outside of the expected mainly white audience. There have also been several initiatives regarding sexual bias. I'm not sure if any of those have had much impact (personally I thought the boating magazine I saw published exclusively for women to be very insulting to women) but if I find out any more I'll post it here.





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[DeeGee]

Re: Why...

I once posted to SB on this subject and recd bland non-acceptance of my view.

One of my students was a relatively rich young black guy, second generation. He was interested when I talked of sailing, and I took him to my local dinghy s.c to race with me in an old wetsuit. He loved it, and came down a few times, turning into a really good crew. He decided to get a Laser and proper kit, and join his local club (mine was considerably further 4miles vs 30miles).

In the meantime, I had received veiled expressions of discouragement from two of the senior officers of the club. VERY veiled, but distinct. As he went elsewhere, it did not continue, and I just remembered.

He sailed for a season at his local club, and then packed it in, as he put it - because that club was not as friendly as mine! He reckoned that everybody kept themselves to themselves, and he felt a bit isolated without anyone to socailise with.

I should add that he was one of the happiest, sunniest people I have known, and he comes sailing with me now and again, and we don't discuss the matter.

I think racism is alive and well in sailing. How badly, I have no idea - everybody professes to being non-racist, but there it is.

<hr width=100% size=1>Black Sugar - the sweetest of all