Racial discrimination and the martial arts

[beau_safken]

:flame:

Yep I know this will happen..but im not starting a fire fight...just a discussion.

Here we go..

When going to find a new martial arts school that is prodomenantly asian I have been getting a lot of cold shoulder action. Granted nobody will say anything overtly, but when nobody looks at you but kinda shrug ya off..its not a good feeling. Granted this has only happened at places that have been instructed in chinese as much as english. I'm not saying that it pisses me off too much but I sure feel weird because of it. I don't know... Could just be the town or mentality. Being dumped by a asian girl for being white...cold shouldered and not told about anything at martial arts schools that are 98% asian... Is racism dead?

Has anyone else experienced this kind of thing?

 

[Sam]

no offense or anything...

but have you considered the possiblity that it is YOU they are shrugging, and not white people?

as for your girlfriend, well, that sucks, but doesnt really have anything to do with martial arts schools.

 

[elder999]

When going to find a new martial arts school that is prodomenantly asian I have been getting a lot of cold shoulder action. Granted nobody will say anything overtly, but when nobody looks at you but kinda shrug ya off..its not a good feeling. Granted this has only happened at places that have been instructed in chinese as much as english. I'm not saying that it pisses me off too much but I sure feel weird because of it. I don't know... Could just be the town or mentality. Being dumped by a asian girl for being white...cold shouldered and not told about anything at martial arts schools that are 98% asian..

.

Heard a lot of it-experienced very little. The short answer is that in this situation-if it's not just you- if you stick around and keep coming to the class, it will mostly go away. If you're "just shopping," well, you could get the equivalent attitude from a class full of white guys, at certain schools......

Is racism dead?

Sadly, hell no.

 

[Blindside]

When going to find a new martial arts school that is prodomenantly asian I have been getting a lot of cold shoulder action. Granted nobody will say anything overtly, but when nobody looks at you but kinda shrug ya off..its not a good feeling. Granted this has only happened at places that have been instructed in chinese as much as english. I'm not saying that it pisses me off too much but I sure feel weird because of it. I don't know... Could just be the town or mentality. Being dumped by a asian girl for being white...cold shouldered and not told about anything at martial arts schools that are 98% asian... Is racism dead?

Is racism dead? Certainly not, but it may not be the cause of what you are experiencing. Some schools are pretty cold to newcomers, particularly if they have a high drop out rate, why invest time in getting to know a group of people who will mostly be gone in two months? Some schools are just not very personal. Maybe they are stereotyping you, that their experience with white martial artists is that they are all new-age kwai chang kane wannabe's (exageration). Just some ideas, stick it out and see if it gets better.

Lamont

 

[beau_safken]

no offense or anything...

but have you considered the possiblity that it is YOU they are shrugging, and not white people?

as for your girlfriend, well, that sucks, but doesnt really have anything to do with martial arts schools.

Yep I have and no im not the obnoxious stereotypical mountain man. Been in the arts all my life and grew up with all kinds of people. You just know when your getting the cold shoulder for things out of your control sometimes.

I'm trying to see if its a common attitude or practice. Just threw that thing about the girl in there as it seems to be very common around here.

 

[bushidomartialarts]

racism happens everywhere. san fran has very large pockets of asian folks, so more opportunity for them to get entrenched and homogenized (like white folks in most parts of america), so you're more likely to get that there in your new home than many other parts of the country.

sadly, i've seen the opposite here where i live. one of the local school owners is vehemently racist against the koreans in town. never could get him to say why.

on a happy note, the usa seems to be one of the only countries in the world where, even though we're racist, most of us understand that we shouldn't be. we're making slow steps in the right direction.

 

[Flying Crane]

I have certainly experienced the need to stick around long enough to prove you are serious. This happened a couple times, and I didn't even realize it until after I broke thru the barrier. Suddenly I got the inside track to the real goods, when I was getting little or no answer previously. I just kept coming back and training, and being present, and asking the questions, and finally the door opened. Took about four years for that to happen. Everyone was polite and all before that, but when I realized the door just opened when I didn't even know it existed, that was really something. And it happened on two different occasions, with two different people, in fairly rapid succession.

 

[beau_safken]

I have certainly experienced the need to stick around long enough to prove you are serious. This happened a couple times, and I didn't even realize it until after I broke thru the barrier. Suddenly I got the inside track to the real goods, when I was getting little or no answer previously. I just kept coming back and training, and being present, and asking the questions, and finally the door opened. Took about four years for that to happen. Everyone was polite and all before that, but when I realized the door just opened when I didn't even know it existed, that was really something. And it happened on two different occasions, with two different people, in fairly rapid succession.

Thanks bud, Just kinda feeling a little shellshocked today is all from that. I'll figure this place out eventually im sure. All in time.

 

[Marginal]

When going to find a new martial arts school that is prodomenantly asian I have been getting a lot of cold shoulder action. Granted nobody will say anything overtly, but when nobody looks at you but kinda shrug ya off..its not a good feeling.

They could just be thinking, "Oh, it's that Neo dude."

 

[beau_safken]

They could just be thinking, "Oh, it's that Neo dude."

Actually in about 3 days.....That might stick more than you would think :ultracool

I'll post pics...

 

[Kacey]

Racism, sexism, what ever prejudicial "ism" you care to discuss is, sadly, still alive and spreading. I have run into it in some strange places - in MA, I have sent students into another MA facility to buy pads (I now carry my own, partially because of this), and the owner/head instructor tried to recruit some of them - but only the adult males - because "woman can't be instructor, you come here, here better"... but he never said that to any of the kids or the women.

Out of the MA environment, I have been told "you don't look like a black belt"... although the people making that comment have never been able to tell me just what a black belt is supposed to look like, but it appears that I should be male, and either short and Asian, or look like my instructor (he's 6'3"). Completely unrelated to MA, I have been told by people that I cannot be Jewish because I don't look the part (too fair, hair too light, nose to small).

Too many people take in prejudicial attitudes as young children, and never throw them off. Having been the target of such problems, I try to be aware of my own prejudices, and not let them affect my interactions with other people.

 

[tshadowchaser]

I have seen all white, black, asian, you name it schools and have practiced in many of them and not "looked" like everyone else. What may look like one thing may only be that way because no one joined and stayed that was "different".
It is a shame that such things still exsist in this country and maybe some day it will not, But as long as people call themslefs, white, black, asian, etc. such things will occure, It would be nice i we all just call oursleves students, or ameicans,etc.

 

[Rich Parsons]

:flame:

Yep I know this will happen..but im not starting a fire fight...just a discussion.

Here we go..

When going to find a new martial arts school that is prodomenantly asian I have been getting a lot of cold shoulder action. Granted nobody will say anything overtly, but when nobody looks at you but kinda shrug ya off..its not a good feeling. Granted this has only happened at places that have been instructed in chinese as much as english. I'm not saying that it pisses me off too much but I sure feel weird because of it. I don't know... Could just be the town or mentality. Being dumped by a asian girl for being white...cold shouldered and not told about anything at martial arts schools that are 98% asian... Is racism dead?

Has anyone else experienced this kind of thing?

I have seen this to some point.

A korean steps into the middle of a TKD seminar and then disrupts the flow and demands things are changed and if you cannot argue with him in Korean then he ignores you even if you are the same rank.


I was at work and was talking about going to a seminar for martial arts to anther martial artist, and this filipino guy heard Arnis. He asked what I was talking about. He was angry that I had learned some form of FMA and was enjoying the process of learning and teaching it.

Yet, I think of this as just another training issue to get over.