Diversity in Skydiving

[mofo554 0]

I've only been in the sport for a short while, and only jumped at two DZs. During this time, I have not once seen a non-white fun jumper at either DZ (Tecumseh and Napoleon in Michigan). There have been a few black, latin, and Asian tandem students, but they were few and far between. Is this typical in our sport? It's not something that bothers me....just curious.

[Tailgate 0]

My brother and I just started AFF at a DZ in South Carolina and the only other student with us was black. As I recall i think there were a couple of other black jumpers at the DZ as well as some Asians.
Had to think about this for a few. I hadn't thought of my classmate or the other divers as anything but divers ( I guess that is a good thing)

_________________________________________________
Let me live in my house by the side of the road and be a friend to man- Sam Walter Foss

[lazyfrog 0]

we have few black skydivers here, but an iranian.

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Fumer tue, péter pue
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ourson #10, Mosquito Uno, CBT 579

[winsor 236]

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I've only been in the sport for a short while, and only jumped at two DZs. During this time, I have not once seen a non-white fun jumper at either DZ (Tecumseh and Napoleon in Michigan). There have been a few black, latin, and Asian tandem students, but they were few and far between. Is this typical in our sport? It's not something that bothers me....just curious.

For whatever reason, most of the people who gravitate to the sport seem to be males of European extraction. I could speculate as to why, but it wouldn't be all that informed a guess.

The most significant line of demarcation appears to be sex. An attractive, single female is likely to be given more consideration than is a male who is not a World Champion.

There is a pretty significant gay element, both male and female, but I don't see anyone making a big deal about it. By and large the gay members of the community don't make an issue of their preferences, and they are judged on the basis of their skills and contribution to the community.

As far as race goes, it doesn't seem to be much of a factor on the DZ. If someone is being discussed, it is often more of concern if they're a CRW dog or a freeflier than what is their ethnicity. You don't have cliques based on off-DZ concerns so much as by skydiving discipline.

The bottom line is that it really doesn't make much difference if your forebears were Iroquois, Indonesian, Ibo or Irish. It does make a difference if you're a good-looking woman.


Blue skies,

Winsor

[mr2mk1g 10]

We've noticed this in our club too - I don't know why it is.

I've hardly ever seen any non-caucasions who jump, some students who dont seem to keep up with it, a couple of tandems, but virtually non who jump regularly. I cant figure why this could possibly be, I've never come across racism, and its even less common in this country than some others arround the world.

We have a joke based on this observation... and please take this in the light hearted way it is intended:

"white men cant jump... black men don't jump".

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[TrickyDicky 0]

There are 3 attractive girls in my uni club (more at dz). One has the biggest pair Ive ever seen. They must give her special powers cos she is a very very good FS jumper (get her FS1 in about 45 jumps!)

But in terms of ethnicity I have only seen a few non cocasion jumpers do first s/l or tandem.

But for our uni club most students at the uni are cocasion anyway. But until you brought it up, hadnt really noticed.

One of the affi Simon Thomas did his AFF with is black.

UK Skydiver for all your UK skydiving needs.

[mr2mk1g 10]

Hey tricky - our clubs should meet up some time... (nothing to do with any of your members with special powers of course)

[kallend 2,027]

A fair amount of disposable income is needed to get started in skydiving. This may explain some of the observations.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[ojf1982 0]

This is something that I have wondered about as well, because I live in Miami, and since Miami is not your ordinary southern city since it is predominantly hispanic, most jumpers at Skydive Miami are white Americans, and most live in Broward County (north of Miami-Dade County). Only a few of us regulars are Cuban or hispanic which bothered me since more than half of Miami is of Latin descent.. There have been two blacks who I have seen graduate from AFF, one comes around every now and then but i barely see him.

Other than that, lots of latins and blacks have done tandems but few seem to be interested in staying in the sport.

Maybe the reason us Cubans dont jump is because most thinking that crossing the Strait of Florida on an inner tube is dangerous enough and dont want to push their luck. sorry i couldnt resist

The edge ... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who know where it is are those that have gone over - Hunter S. Thompson

[flyinmedic 0]

Hey,

Its my first time posting, and im still new to this (already in love with it). Just finished my AFF training and if the weather clears up will be doing my first solo some time soon. I am an Orthodox Jew (also considered Chasidic). I wear a yarmulka (aka kipah, skullcap) and tzitzit (string hanging out on the sides). I have not heard of any other licensed skydivers who are orthodox, but if theres anyone out there let me know!

[Joellercoaster 6]

Curiosity regarding the tzitzit: is there some rule about having to have it visible while it's being worn? I have some long-ago memory of someone telling me this, but can't pin it down.

Do you have to wear it?

And if you to, can you tie it down somehow so it's not a tangle hazard?

--
"I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan

"You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

[webracer 0]

yeah, most serial killers are white too. Think about it.
Anyone is generally welcome in this sport, unless you are dangerous or careless toward others.
Whites just fit the personality profile of skydivers better.
my .03
Troy

Troy

I am now free to exercise my downward mobility.

[Harksaw 0]

Maybe this is a crazy theory, but I read once that the reason white peole get ADD more often is the same reason that ancient white people moved out of Africa to Europe and eventually the whole world. We get bored easily. Its in our genes. Maybe this craving for excitement is the reason skydivers are primarily white.

It also probably has a lot to do with economics.

__________________________________________________
I started skydiving for the money and the chicks. Oh, wait.

[rendezvous 0]

I think it's more complicated than that. At a macro level it's a function of availability, affordibility and the size of the population, just to name a few parameters. Take for example the US. If you think about the ratio of white skydivers to the total while population and then apply that same ratio to other ethnic populations you'll see that their representation comes out to be much smaller. This is ofcourse a very crude method since the actual minority population available after you factor in social conditions, income groups and other economic factors comes out to be much smaller. Outside the US, there are other factors that influence the interest in the sport such as the ease of availability of flying operations etc. e.g some countries in Asia are well established in Hang gliding, Paragliding, white water rafting, mountain climbing, rock climbing, scuba diving, skiing etc but don't have skydiving due to a lack of recreational flying infrastructure or the logistics and cost involved with flying operations.

[Tonto 1]

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the same reason that ancient white people moved out of Africa to Europe and eventually the whole world. We get bored easily. Its in our genes.

I hope you know that those "ancient white people" you're refering to were black when they left africa some 60 to 40 000 years ago. The physiological and visual differences of race are a very recent change - having occured within the last 40 000 years. Physiologically, we are unaltered in the last 20 000 years. If you took a child from 20 000 years ago and put them in a crib - no one would notice the difference. We're just tool users. Club, knife, cell phone, rig. Just tool users.

Sterkfontien caves

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[mr2mk1g 10]

true, but if you apply the theory it would be those black people living in africa who had an adventurous side that left and migrated throughout the world. Their skin colour then changes white because of environmental changes but they are psychologically still more adventurous. Their adventurous nature is not linked to their skin colour at a genetic level, but only by virtue of the mechanism by which they became white.

[rendezvous 0]

It could also be that the adventure in Africa started getting to some and they left looking for something less adventerous and more laid back.

[rogue108 0]

Typically its a pretty "white" sport. I have jumped at DZ's in the Mid-Atlantic region and Florida and I have seen few ethnicities compared to the "white" population, but they are around.

I am one of two male asian fun jumpers, I know of even then people get us confused. We really don't look alike. He has a bigger build than me, but aren't all asians related There are quite a few female asian fun jumpers I know of, but few male ones. A lot of the time people remember me as the asian guy and they immediately know who I am rather than by name.

Yah...its mostly "white" folks, but Wonder bread is good

[Tonto 1]

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true, but if you apply the theory it would be those black people living in africa who had an adventurous side that left and migrated throughout the world. Their skin colour then changes white because of environmental changes but they are psychologically still more adventurous. Their adventurous nature is not linked to their skin colour at a genetic level, but only by virtue of the mechanism by which they became white.

That's if they left because they were adventurous. Maybe they just couldn't cut it and ran away. They also never all turned white. Some turned yellow. Still others went to Oz and stayed black.

Whenever I hear theories about how adventurous and intelegent white hetrosexual males are - I'm reminded of how they desimated just about every culture known to mankind.

The next time you think you have better genes than other humans, read

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
publisher: W.W. Norton & Company
author(s): Jared Diamond

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[jumperconway 0]

Although I this seems to be a mostly white male sport thare are 3 blacks that regularly jump at my dz along with a couple of pakistanies a few orientals and a few of these are women. When talking about jumping around most blacks that I know,they seem to be really spooked by the idea more than wuffo whites for some reason. We have no problems with the ones that do jump though.

[StevePhelps 0]

I'm a little bit of everything

Guess, the white euro trash in me likes to jump!

[KATO33 0]

I guess as one of the few Non-White (African-American) I'll chime in. I'll only speak on the African-American portion of the Non-White community.

Reasons African American don't skydive in no particular order.
1) Economics--- this is not a cheap sport. The unemployment rate in the Black community is usually 2x the national rate.

2) Culture--- Although African Americans participate in sports we rarely participate in Extreme sports of any kind. Not a lot of Dirt bike tracks or Skateboard parks in the inner city.

Fear--- Not the natural fear of jumping from an airplane that most humans share. But the fear of being in the boondocks ALONE with a bunch of White people you don't know.

For me personally skydiving has always been a part of my spirit. I dreamed of skydiving as a child before I knew what skydiving was.
Fortunately I have a wife who was just adventurous enough to set up tandem jumps for my birthday after I mentioned I wouldn't mind trying it.

I was also fortunate to be in a position financially to afford the training and gear to feed my addiction (hooked after the first tandem).

That just my take as an African American regular Jumper. Tried my damnedest to get more of my friends to jump may as well be talking to a rock.

Blue Skies Black Death

[SkydiverRick 0]

Fear--- Not the natural fear of jumping from an airplane that most humans share. But the fear of being in the boondocks ALONE with a bunch of White people you don't know.

[Harksaw 0]

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Whenever I hear theories about how adventurous and intelegent white hetrosexual males are - I'm reminded of how they desimated just about every culture known to mankind.

Umm, I dont see a connection between "adventurous" and "intelligent", and I certianly did not intend to sound superior in any way. I just said that the same genes that give white people ADD might make them bored with things easily and look for more exciting things. I certianly didn't want to make the white domination of the world sound good.

As an aside, black people are black by genetics, and leaving hot areas will not change their genetics to make them white after a while. If this was the case, how could black people in America or Canada stay the same color after hundreds of years?

__________________________________________________
I started skydiving for the money and the chicks. Oh, wait.

[wmw999 2,446]

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If this was the case, how could black people in America or Canada stay the same color after hundreds of years?

maybe because it would take more than hundreds? several orders of magnitude more?

One thing I've noticed about the African Americans in my area (there are several) is that the majority have a lot more diverse ties in the community (family, friends, etc) than I do. I.e. they have a life, and skydiving would interrupt it.

One of the women in my group made a tandem jump before I started back up a couple of years ago; one of the guys is thinking, but just signed up for a rock-climbing class instead. He's a black belt in karate, and his weekends are often taken up with tournaments, or visiting family or friends.

This only applies to the people I know.

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)