Racism at the dojo

[AnonymousOne]

I have just wondered, has anyone ever encountered racism at their dojo or club?

 

Never. Not once in 41 years have I ever seen that.

[krzychicano]

Good point, doubletwist.

 

It reminds me of that campaign with those supermodels a few years back - the "I'd rather go naked than wear fur". Well, I'd rather not train at any dojo than train in a racist one.

 

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[tkdrocks]

Racism, no, it has not been an issue in our school. However, we have had to deal with the "perception" of it. Our school has about 200 active students. About 80% are caucasian, the rest are either hispanic, asian or african-american.

 

A few months ago, we were testing 5 of our black belt students to be Assistant/Trainee Instructors. The testing procedure is fairly straight forward: The following had to be demonstrated:

 

1. All forms up to and including the current one.

 

2. All one-step sparring patterns.

 

3. All 3 step sparring patterns.

 

4. Focus Target precision.

 

5. Some basic terminology.

 

6. Performance of combinations given verbally without being shown.

 

7. Four 3 minute rounds of sparring with proper techniques demonstrated.

 

Four of the students performed all of these tasks perfectly. The fifth student had problems with some of her forms and one step sparring. This student also happened to be an African-American young lady. Everyone is gived 3 opportunities to correct their mistakes.

 

As, we the council, met in the office to discuss who would be accepted as an Assistant Instructor, we knew this was going to be a challenge. The last thing that we wanted to do was soften the requirements because someone might be offended or use the race card. We decided not to pass her at that time.

 

As we walked back into the classroom, the parents of the young lady declared, "You all ganged up on her, didn't you?" The reality was that she was not as prepared as the other students. By making this accusation, all those parents did was devalue the effort put in by the students/instructors that have worked hard to get where they are.

 

I have spent extra time with this young lady to get her ready for her next opportunity to test for that position. I think that she will eventually make a fine assistant instructor, but we would be doing her and our school a disservice to allow her to teach or believe she is ready to teach if we allowed her to pass on a lowered scale.

[TSDforChrist]

Here's an interesting racism question for you all:

 

Part one: You move to a new town, and there are two dojangs (or dojos, or whatever) that teach your primary art there, both charging the same amount. You visit both, and the classes are very very similar, and the instructors are identically ranked. One instructor is of the ethnicity from which your art originated (example: Korean instructor for TKD). Does that influence your decision at all? Be honest.

 

Part two: You have decided to start a new martial art, one founded relatively recently, let's say in 1975. You have two choices, both of which intrigue you. The founders both had roughly equivalent experience in MA before starting their own style. One is Oriental, and one is not. In your "research" of these two new arts, does founding by a non-Oriental raise a red flag? Will it influence your decision between the two if all other things are as equal as can be expected? Again, you have to be honest with yourself.

 

Just a little food for thought.

[Lady Kitana]

I have " ZERO TOLERENCE" for racism . I personaly never encountered it at my school or anywhere else . Thank God ! It's sad that this kind of thing still goes on , you would think that people would learn by now how stupid and childish racism is .

[PrideampPoise]

Haven't seen any signs of it in our dojang.

Good questions, TSDforChrist. I'll bite.

On #1... As a practical matter, I haven't been in a situation like that. My first study was in TKD in college, and there was no choice to make (I believe he was Italian). KSW schools are few and far between out here, so when I took that up, again, not much choice.

But as a hypothetical, I have to honestly say that if I had that choice initially, the instructor being Korean *might* have had an influence on my inititial perception. However, I'm confident that I would have taken the time to speak with each, and that ultimately, the nationality would not have played a role in it.

My current instructor is from Afghanistan, and I have the utmost respect for him. So going forward, I'm pretty sure nationality would have no impact on me, even at a subconcious level.

On #2, I'd say basically, see #1. If it were my first foray into the arts, the instructor being Oriental might have a small impact on my initial perception. But again, in the end, I don't think it would have mattered.

Now, I'm sure it wouldn't matter.

[SenseiMike]

I have, a young african-american kid kept getting really out of hand, calling us crakers and such. wasn't a student tho, he was just watching, and impressing his friends by his ammazing ability of trash talking. not really what you were asking, but it's all I got.

[White Warlock]

Part one: You move to a new town, and there are two dojangs (or dojos, or whatever) that teach your primary art there, both charging the same amount. You visit both, and the classes are very very similar, and the instructors are identically ranked. One instructor is of the ethnicity from which your art originated (example: Korean instructor for TKD). Does that influence your decision at all? Be honest.

No. What interests me more is whether i can "comprehend" what it is he/she is teaching and whether he/she spends the extra time to bring 'insight' into each session. I.e., i look for the better teacher.

Part two: You have decided to start a new martial art, one founded relatively recently, let's say in 1975. You have two choices, both of which intrigue you. The founders both had roughly equivalent experience in MA before starting their own style. One is Oriental, and one is not. In your "research" of these two new arts, does founding by a non-Oriental raise a red flag? Will it influence your decision between the two if all other things are as equal as can be expected? Again, you have to be honest with yourself.

No. Any new art raises a red flag with me, regardless of the progenitors.

[isshinryu5toforever]

Question 1. No it would make no difference. I'm the only Korean in my county (I was adopted). Yes, I am enough of a geek to have looked at the county census. The only other Asian family is a Chinese family who just moved in a year ago. So, race has very little influence on my decision making. I would try to determine which was legitimately better at the art.

Question 2. I want to know what the basis of the art is. I'm wary of any new art.

And can I just set this straight. The term is Asian not Oriental. You can call a rug an Oriental rug, but a person is Asian. It's not a huge deal to me, but I figured I'd point that out since this is a discussion on racism. Some Asians are very, very irritated/offended being called Oriental.

[Enviroman]

Question 1. No it would make no difference. I'm the only Korean in my county (I was adopted). Yes, I am enough of a geek to have looked at the county census. The only other Asian family is a Chinese family who just moved in a year ago. So, race has very little influence on my decision making. I would try to determine which was legitimately better at the art.

Question 2. I want to know what the basis of the art is. I'm wary of any new art.

And can I just set this straight. The term is Asian not Oriental. You can call a rug an Oriental rug, but a person is Asian. It's not a huge deal to me, but I figured I'd point that out since this is a discussion on racism. Some Asians are very, very irritated/offended being called Oriental.

In reference to your post about your county: hahahaha. That's the midwest for you.

Yeah, Oriental is viewed as a derogatory term nowadays. It's very 1950s...it's simply outdated. When was the last time someone referred to Asia as "The Orient?"