 Poster: A snowHead
|
A 75 year-old black woman has skied to the North Pole.
Well, I am not black but age is beginning to take its toll. One of the nice things about the EOSB is that there was no discrimination on the grounds of colour, age (or whether you were a boarder  ) And everybody enjoyed each others company. Glad to see that age does not deter those who want to do really wild treks, either.
Am I using the right tern with "black"? A skier I know who is black uses the term himself. And the article uses the expression. However, I have no wish to offend, and will take guidance from fellow snowheads on this.
Should the colour be relevant? Probably not. But somehow I think she may have had even more obstacles to overcome than she wold have had she been white.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
|
|
|
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
|
| achilles wrote: |
Should the colour be relevant? |
NO!
My friends, who are black, use "black" as a descriptor if/when it is appropriate so I do too - again, if/when appropriate.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
If age/gender/skin colour/religion/whatever are considered important, then they become an issue. But if the point of the feat is that the age of the person is outside of the normal boundaries for doing that kind of feat, then it should be included.
Then again, it's what the BBC does all the time...
"Englishman wins world title" if they are English. If they are from any other part of GB, then it is not "Scotsman wins", or "Welshman wins", but "British man wins"
Or if it's for doing something bad, the "English" become "British" and the Scots/Welsh suddenly become identified by their region...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
|
Wear The Fox Hat, have you got any stats on that?
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
I wonder what the headline would have been if it were a white 75 year old woman.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
hyweljenkins, "78 year old man suffers without his tea while wife goes off galavanting"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wow, what a great lady! If she herself was proud of being "the first black woman...etc", as the article implies, then it was indeed right to include the descriptor.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
|
holidayloverxx, I can see your point. Then again, when I last visited the South (USA) (about 5 years ago) colour was still an issue. But the article was not written in a southern newspaper, but a Massachusetts one. Specifically mentioned (despite the photo making colour obvious) too. So I guess for Americans that fact that it was a black woman who did it is newsworthy.
Whatever, it was a tremendous feat. Respect.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Somewhat relavent. Skiing isn't a popular sport for blacks. So the feat is more special.
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
|
abc, I skied in Tremblant Canada one Febuary where they were holding the New York coloured/black Ski Club gathering, hundreds of coloured people who could all ski very well.
|
|
|
|
|
|
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
|
achilles, I find it offensive that you said,
| Quote: |
But somehow I think she may have had even more obstacles to overcome than she wold have had she been white.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Hurtle wrote: |
| Wow, what a great lady! If she herself was proud of being "the first black woman...etc", as the article implies, then it was indeed right to include the descriptor. |
I agree!
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
| SMALLZOOKEEPER wrote: |
achilles, I find it offensive that you said,
| Quote: |
But somehow I think she may have had even more obstacles to overcome than she wold have had she been white.
|
|
Why?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
achilles, It's a stupid statement, why would skiing to the North pole be any more difficult for Black person than for a White one? It's stereotypical BULLSHITE, antiquated Drivel and FauxPC. Wake Up! 
|
|
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
| Linds wrote: |
| abc, I skied in Tremblant Canada one Febuary where they were holding the New York coloured/black Ski Club gathering, hundreds of coloured people who could all ski very well. |
It's not that there are none. It's just not popular amoung blacks.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
|
|
|
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
|
achilles, Sorry but you're generalising,
| Quote: |
I do see cultural obstacles to being in a position to be about to do it in the first place - making the achievement all the more remarkable.
|
It's absolute rubbish and an insult to every black skinned person on earth.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
achilles, BTW, being of elder years does not excuse the use of ancient mindsets. Get with the times.
Sorry i'm sure you're in no way racist, however, i do not wish that the thriumph i feel when I reach the Northpole is anyway diminished by the fact somone else did it with black skin!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
| Quote: |
i do not wish that the thriumph i feel when I reach the Northpole is anyway diminished by the fact somone else did it with black skin!
|
Well, well, well, would you have felt your accomplishment diminished if someone who has only one leg did it, which is clearly more difficult?
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
SMALLZOOKEEPER, don't punish and don't reward for irrelevant genetic difference?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
abc, how he feels about his accomplishment is irrelevant, its about how society acclaims it, and you bet there is an Apollo LXXV effect.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Quote: |
Well, well, well, would you have felt your accomplishment diminished if someone who has only one leg did it, which is clearly more difficult?
|
Not if both of us had done it walking on our hands, are you saying black skin is a physical disability?
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
|
|
SMALLZOOKEEPER, it -is- for vitamin D. At 75, and up north, possibly enough to make an interesting difference.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
comprex, I never understand a word of what you write, honestly, not one! 
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
The article says:
"Hillary, of Averne, N.Y., grew up in Harlem and devoted herself to a nursing career and community activism. At 67 and during retirement, she battled lung cancer. Five years later, she went dog sledding in Quebec and photographed polar bears in Manitoba.
Then she heard that a black woman had never made it to the North Pole."
Anyone want to tell her a black woman has never snowboarded down Everest wearing a silly hat? 
|
|
|
|
|
|
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
|
Lizzard, I find this kind of reportage an outrage. Good if it inspires people from diverse backrounds to enter an unknown environment, which i'm sure is the point. However it's a short fix and keeps alive the pain suffered by many due to racisim. If we truley wish to unite as equals this kind of article does nothing other than to serve to reverse positive racial progress. A 75 year old woman makes it to the North Pole is a feat enough, let me read into it what else i wish. I wish to congratulate her, least of all for the fact she endured all that hardship as well as having black skin! 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
SMALLZOOKEEPER, black skin->less UV converted to Vitamin D per unit exposed skin area->less calcium fixed to 75yr old bones and things.
The assumption of economic or social disadvantage may actually be correct, but needs to be proven before it is acclaimed.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
|
SMALLZOOKEEPER, I think you need to bear in mind that it was reported in an American paper, and the US is a rather race-obsessed culture.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
| Lizzard wrote: |
| SMALLZOOKEEPER, I think you need to bear in mind that it was reported in an American paper, and the US is a rather race-obsessed culture. |
Even if the generalisation in the second clause were true (which it isn't), so?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
|
comprex, This kind of stuff winds me right up. Anyone seen the Film "CRASH"?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
| Quote: |
US is a rather race-obsessed culture
|
Indeed.
I had it on authority of one black woman who moved from London to New York. Actually, make it two, of such black women.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
|
|
abc, What are you SEPPO's on about?
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
|
abc, BS! And the proof is: nobody gives a flying flip if I am Asian or Latino. So find other words than 'race'. I suggest 'victim- guilt trip mentality with obvious classification at hand'.
Last edited by You need to Login to know who's really who. on Tue 8-05-07 17:40; edited 1 time in total
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
| comprex wrote: |
| abc, BS! And the proof is: nobody gives a flying flip if I am Asian or Latino. So find other words than 'race'. |
So the word is BLACK! Specifically, the BLACK skin color.
Is that what you have in mind?
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
abc, progress.
I think, however, that no further progress is going to be made in this venue.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the first time this year, I saw a ski school group in Drouzin le Mont 90% full with black kids, and several black adults taking lessons as well. They were all French speakers but I'm not sure if they were from a local school or else from Africa. One thing I do know is that they were skiing no differently to the rest of the kids and adults that were learning (well, except for one of the blokes who couldn't stand up for toffee), so I would say, without a doubt, that having black skin does not diminish someone's skiing ability. I think maybe there is some outdated idea in the heads of us whiteys that black people are so desperately poor and disadvantaged that they couldn't possibly be able to go skiing, so when one does something remarkable like ski to the North Pole, or go for the Olympics, then it's suddenly big news. But is there really any difference in wealth between black and white people? Is it just that in the past black people haven't really seen skiing as a high priority leisure activity? Has skiing not really been marketed to appeal to black people?
What would be more sensible in the case of the 75 year old black woman skiing to the North Pole, would be to say "how amazing it is that someone who started skiing so late in life, having devoted herself to a nursing career and community activism, and at 67 and during retirement, having to battle lung cancer, has skied to the North Pole".
But, this woman has brought this discussion on herself, by deciding to do it as no other black person had - so there is no difference between her and anyone else until she decides to use her black skin colour to make a difference.
Has anyone heard Lewis Hamilton say anything about deciding to try to become Formula One champion as no other black person has? Has Lewis Hamilton with his well off well speaking family come from some disadvantaged background because of his skin colour? Is his skin colour somehow a disadvantage from the point of view of being able to drive fast? Of course not - which is why it's never mentioned.
There are, of course, some true stereotypes - black people tend to have bigger bottoms that white people, white people tend to have smaller lips, white people tend not to have black afro hair, black men tend to have bigger todgers than white men (of course, not proven, but if they obviously have bigger botties then who's to say they don't have bigger todgers?). But are any of these things a handicap when it comes to sporting ability???
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well i think she rocks ! Go grandma !
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
|
|
I remember when I was a teenager at school (mid 70's) that it was considered offensive to describe someone as 'black' & that 'coloured' was the correct term. Now that seems to have been reversed - does anyone know why?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
spyderjon, I think its because being black was socially undesireable and had connotations attached to it. As coloured is a more gentle word than black I think it was argued that using the word "coloured" is almost euphamistic in that it implies that it is still undesirable to be black. I think the attitude is "our skin is black so call us black, there is nothing to be ashamed of" is the reasoning behind it.
I apologise if I have gotten that wrong/offended anyone.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ
