Hi Mark,
My stance is that differences attributed to race are often differences in
culture. That's it. They're cultural differences, not racial differences.
You peeled a couple of layers away from that to tease out some specific
factors that might *create* cultural differences, and I don't disagree with
them. Your points about football and basketball versus golf et al. are
good ones and are probably valid, but my point wasn't to dissect the
*reasons* for differences, only to point out that they *exist* and that
people confuse them.
Interesting, by the way, that you mentioned Major Taylor given his
environment growing up. A lone example doesn't prove anything, but it's
consistent with my premise.
By the way, I didn't say black people don't like riding bikes, but I think
you already know that.
Dave
Boston/Indy
On Wednesday, June 12, 2019 at 6:53:12 AM UTC-4, Mark in Beacon wrote:
>
>
> Dave Small wrote:
> *"**The purported paucity of black cyclists is a cultural phenomenon, not
> a racial phenomenon....So there aren't many black cyclists---so what? It's
> not their thing. They have other things. Their things aren't my things,
> and they're not trying to get me involved in their things because they're
> their things and they don't care that they're not my things, too.... It's
> just the way it is..."*
>
> So your stance is, black people as a group just don't like riding bikes,
> because, "black culture". Maybe. But you have to take into account the fact
> that "cultures" overlap, interact, and affect one another when they exist
> in the same country--a country that for a portion of its history allowed
> members of one race to own members of another race. The first iteration of
> the League of American Wheelmen banned non-white cyclists in 1894, in part
> due to the success of Major Taylor.
>
> *"Most NBA and NFL players are black, but few hockey players, race car
> drivers, or professional golfers are...."*
>
> Again, your supposition is this is because blacks in general just don't
> care much for hockey, car racing, or golf. However, basketball and
> football are public school sports, and can also be played with a minimum of
> equipment outside of institutional settings. Hockey and golf are
> historically more the purview of prep schools. The economic opportunities
> that blacks have often been excluded from mean they are not as
> well-represented at these private institutions. Race car driving has a
> strong Southern background, which may or may not mean something. I bet you
> could look into it. Golf has an interesting "cultural" past that may have
> influenced black culture in the U.S.:
> https://www.complex.com/sports/2011/06/the-most-racist-moments-in-golf-history/kelly-tilghman
>
>
>
> Still seems to be happening in places:
>
> https://www.golf.com/tour-news/2018/04/26/fallout-continues-alleged-discriminatory-golf-course-incident
>
>
> *Really, there's much ado about nothing here. ..*
>
> Well, I would not speak for others as to whether or not this is true.
> Perhaps you are right. I think discussions about race are a good thing. But
> probably more useful when everyone is at the table.
>
>
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW
Owners Bunch" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email
to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch.
To view this discussion on the web visit
https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/fc475076-873a-420a-9baf-e541ff76d84c%40googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
