I am one minority who wishes we American would give this minority or race subject a rest. There may be lots of reasons native Americans or black American or Latino Americans or Asian Americans (or whatever Americans) don't take to kayaking, but I'm not interested in these endless speculations. What is clear to me is that in America, more than in any other country in the world, if you want to do something, you are free to do so. A native American youngster does not have to stay in the reservation. If he has the determination to get an education and get into a line of work, the opportunity and means are there if he looks. A black American does not have to stay in the ghetto. An Asian American does not have to stay in a dish-washing job. I say this as a foreigner who immigrated to America (from China). I find that it is foreign immigrants like me who realize what a good country this is, whereas Americans who were born in America like to talk about how unfair or unequitable or un-diverse or culturally insensitive or <fill in your own bad word> their country is. About 20 years ago I worked with some teenage Vietnamese boat people. They started with no money. In I think less than 3 years one of them was in an electical union in the NYC area making good money, and his brother or fraternal cousin was making decent money in some small retail shop. Kayaking is something that never would have crossed their minds because to them the most important thing was to get work and start moving into the American mainstream. Jack Fu 47°38'N 122°08'W -----Original Message----- [mailto:owner-paddlewise_at_paddlewise.net]On Behalf Of Shawn W. Baker Subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Taboo Subjects (was: Double Fatality) <snip> Minority groups in seakayaking: It's an interesting observation. I don't have an answer for it, but I've noticed it before. I've met a few Latino American kayakers, some Asian American kayakers, plenty of Scandinavian American and Anglo American kayakers, but no African American kayakers. I have also seen few Native American kayakers and canoers, and they were the indigenous originators of our sports. Of course, the Native American tribes in Montana weren't historically canoeing people, but they continue to be amazing horsemen. The Salish were seagoing people on the NW coast, but the Salish in Montana were displaced far overland and away from the large cedar trees they used to carve into canoes, so they were mostly forced away from canoeing. I also appreciate Wes's quote from his North Shore colleague. Most caucasians have no concerns about ending discrimination, and can spend more free time in "self-actualization" type pursuits and communing with nature. If you have to worry about defending your basic freedoms, then recreation time seems a bit unimportant. <snip> -- Shawn W. Baker 0 46°53'N *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Mon Sep 25 2000 - 11:37:23 PDT
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