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Black people on the front cover of RW
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Are north-western mediterranean people (spanish, portuguese, italian, south french) white?
i've been told, we are not.
If we are not, can anybody told me my racial group?, i can't sleep at nights.
thanks
I scored some cheap points from this twitchy political correctness once when I had a letter from social services about one of my kids addressing me as "Ms". I wrote back saying that in my culture it was deeply offensive to suggest that a woman might be an unmarried mother.
And whenever I talk to members of the older generation of my family, I realise how much blatantly ignorant racism there still is out there.
You be what you want to be luv ! If you're a nice person then that's all I need to know ?
I enjoyed reading Tony Hawks "Round Ireland with a fridge", i've cried laughing.
i loved ted corbitt too,his partnership with ronnie barker in the 70's was superb!
Yes, I'm white, and a middle-aged male as well. But to me it just isn't an issue.
I have wondered why there are so few black (non-white, whatever you want to call them) runners around. I see very few at events. Maybe it's a cultural thing, I dunno.
Are there any black forumites? Do you feel discriminated against or unwanted in our sport? Genuine question.
I a previous job, I had to fill out a questionnaire for statistical purposes (can't remember for who) and on it were the usual questions. The answers were something like:
How many people do you employ: 400
How many are female: 150
How many are part time: 25
How many are from ethnic minorities: 0
How many are registered disabled: 1
I got a phone call from the recipients of the questionnaire, basically saying that we would be in deep doo doo because our recruitment policy was obviously biased, and that, being a company of our size, we HAD to employ a certain percentage of disabled/ethnic minority people.
It took me quite some time to explain the differences between the North of Scotland and say, Birmingham, in relation to the incidence of non-white populace. Eventually I got a bit snippy and told her that the reason we didn't employ any ethnic minorities was that we had never had an application from them.
I was tempted, the following year, to include our English staff as ethnic minorities.
Phew, I'm glad the thread had peaked and then calmed down by the time I got here and I accept that Bryan and Carl were, to an extent, playing devil's advocate.
The thing that often gets my goat in discussions like this is how quickly any mention of race, any question (and Itfar actually asked a very simple question in his original thread) elicits an accusation of playing the race card.
In my working life I deal with lots of allegations of racism. Sometimes they are false. But guess what? Sometimes they are true and a person has been subject to unfair treatment or harassment simply because of the colour of their skin. Launching claims about the race card, positive discrimination and PC behaviour, every time race is mentioned can be part of the process of maintaining discrimination because it ensures that valid questions don't get a proper airing.
In relation to the original question I guess the cover model is usually (always?) white because of a judgement that that will help sell the mag. Its probably correct. It probably doesn't oppress black people. But it might reinforce an impression, possibly held by some of the people who have posted here, that running is a white person's sport.
It depends on who is making the rules. In the US, you would probably be 'Latino', not white. In the UK, you would be 'any other white background' (according to the equal opportunities form I am just filling out for a job).
No idea about Ted Corbitt, though, sorry.
He used to knock up crazy miles in training (200/week), and did London to Brighton a few times, as well as Walton OT 100 miler.
It's quite revealing to read of the racism he encountered. He used to run to work and didn't have any kit so ran in his work clothes. He got stopped by the police a fair bit. He recalls those stories without rancour, and doesn't seem bitter at all.
He must be in his eighties now.
I can see Itfar's point, it's hard to know just how many "minority" recreational runners are out there. It's not just cover pictures, but articles too. If they're proportionally representative, I can't see grounds for complaint. OK, there might be a white runner on RW one month, but if someone identifies RW as a magazine that is happy to put black people on the cover then how can a reader (of whatever colour) be offended?
I bet there's not many magazines that put black people on the cover once in a while. You look at teh magazines in Smiths and it's probably a bank of white faces staring back at you, so maybe I've been a bit insensitive.
And as for the thing about not very many ethnic minorities in races - well, maybe just maybe, the fact that the cover of RW and other "fitness" magazines never features anyone other than white people, gives the impression that the race scene is closed off....? I don't know.
And yes there are black forumites, but I shan't say who in case they don't want to get involved in the debate.
I liked his quote: "The sport doesn't belong to anyone, it belongs to everyone."
He was referring to rugby, but he could just as well be talking about running.
Whenever I get one of those forms I give my colour as pink.
Yeah, but Athletics Weekly is too left wing for me.
"Jordan gets her norks out"
You can only say it isn't an issue if it doesn't affect you.
Putting a black person (or non-white) on the front of RW will not change the world, but when magazines (and any area of the media) take a brave step and do things like this, it makes these things become more acceptable and gradually become the norm. There was probably a time when having a woman on the front cover of a running mag would have seemed conspicuous and overly PC, and objections may have been backed up by claims from men that they don't see many female runners at races. But look how things change. The media doesn't always just reflect society, it often leads the way in changing our perceptions on what is acceptable and what is the 'norm', for better or worse.
waapster,
i don't get AW but was curious about it being left wing...do tell.