racism in the martial arts

[isshinryu5toforever]

Of course it's racism. Of course the Koreans are being fast tracked. Is it right? no. Does it make sense? yes. The Koreans have been trying to beat Steven Lopez for the last how many years? They have put him in the most difficult brackets, made scoring, er interesting, and basically tried to screw him over in every way possible. So, yes, Koreans are sensitive about Tae Kwon Do. And yes, they are fast tracking these Korean black belts. They don't want non-Koreans to be higher ranked than Koreans in their martial art. It's a pride thing. Does that make it right? of course not. By the way, I'm Korean so you can't really accuse me of being racist. I'm just admitting the truth.

[MasterH]

Of course it's racism. Of course the Koreans are being fast tracked. Is it right? no. Does it make sense? yes. The Koreans have been trying to beat Steven Lopez for the last how many years? They have put him in the most difficult brackets, made scoring, er interesting, and basically tried to screw him over in every way possible. So, yes, Koreans are sensitive about Tae Kwon Do. And yes, they are fast tracking these Korean black belts. They don't want non-Koreans to be higher ranked than Koreans in their martial art. It's a pride thing. Does that make it right? of course not. By the way, I'm Korean so you can't really accuse me of being racist. I'm just admitting the truth.

Thank you, I thought I was being over sensitive out it.

[isshinryu5toforever]

naw, you're just noticing something I'm surprised nobody's called the associations on yet. It's one big pride thing. Honestly though, once you're a certain rank, does it really matter how high of a rank you achieve? It would be nice to be considered a master instructor, but is it necessary? Not really. I think we put too much value on rank sometimes, but still what the associations have done throughout the years as far as promotion goes has been wrong. I understand it though, because TaeKwonDo isn't like baseball there, it's much more than that. It encompasses their culture, their history, and their physical prowess as a fighting people. They feel it would be disgraceful to be represented by non-Koreans.

[MasterH]

I made my 5th degree a year ago last June. In the org I'm with now, run by an American citizen who trained in Korea. I've been with this man for over 20 years. We were also in this big American Association, and we left it for this reason as well as it was becoming about the money, a big chain of McDojo's (I hate that term, but if it fits......) Anyway, now that I've got this new rank, and title, it's not that big of a deal. My wife won't call me master, the only person I care to have call me master. I'll be dad to my kid, always. It was kind of nice when my instructor called me master for the first time but hey, it's all about having fun and passing it on to the next generation.

FYI we have no high ranking koreans in our system, and it's not on purpose they train with us and seem not to like answering to a big white guy......they seem to move back to the WTF or ITF. And do just fine.

[MasterH]

You're sport TKD, are you WTF?

[isshinryu5toforever]

It's WTF affiliated. I'm not an official rank though, because it's just a sport team. They compete in the Great Northeast Ivy League. After a year though, the politics involed in the WTF are quite clear. After almost 14 years in full contact karate, it's been interesting.

[MasterH]

It's WTF affiliated. I'm not an official rank though, because it's just a sport team. They compete in the Great Northeast Ivy League. After a year though, the politics involed in the WTF are quite clear. After almost 14 years in full contact karate, it's been interesting.

Not KKW, hu? 14 years of Karate though.......as long as I have my instructors signature on my rank certificates....all else is garbage.

[isshinryu5toforever]

The club offers KKW certification if you wish to actually go through the ranking process, but then you have to pay for classes. This is my way of keeping up with competitions a little bit, staying in shape, and learning a little bit about another martial art. I'm not worried about the KKW, because I'm not planning on competing in TKD nationally let alone internationally. I did get the, You should be good at TKD because you're Korean thing at first. I've been asked more than once why I don't want to go for the KKW certification since I'm in the club and I already have a black belt in another style. I guess it's just not that important to me.

[Goju_boi]

if u take ma in college do u have to pay for it as if it were a regular class?

[KarateGirl1387]

Nope, I've never experienced any racism at my school. Our instructors are really cool and I gotta believe that we're all just really focused on the sport itself that the issue of race doesn't even cross our minds...at least that's how it is with me.

Goju_boi, to answer your question, I think it depends upon which college you're/will be attending. The martial arts clubs we have at my school don't charge anything for classes, but I do believe they have a graduation fee. As for martial arts classes being part of the school curriculum (i.e: gym classes), I guess in a way, you're paying for them, lol. Hope this helped!