djnsayne

My Feedback: (2)

Who said anything about separating races?....... I want more people of all races into the hobby and I simply noticed that minorities are never included in Hobby related ads. At my field out of a Roster of 142 pilots, there are only 5 african american members. In my community African Americans make up roughly 32 percent of the population. There is a huge gap there. I read and hear all the time that the AMA is losing members and that clubs are declining so I figured it would be good to market to those we have been ignoring for years. Does that make me a racist?..... I would say no, but some of you are saying that I am.

bradpaul

I belong to three clubs, one has a Hispanic-American as President, one a Arab-American as President, and the last a European-American. (got to be PC with that hyphenated American thing) All have members that are White, Black, Asian, Hispanic, Native American, Christians, Jews, Muslims and probably a Druid or two.

The bigger question is: why are so many RC planes white, yellow or red? It must be some sort of discrimination.

Brad

John Casey

My Feedback: (4)

Since when is the love of aviation or model aviation .........a minority Thing?
If I like horses is that...... a mexican thing?
Taco Bell's marketing seems to be doing very good with us ........ fat angry white folks.

I don't see how to improve the "minority market share" in RC other
than to make sure to treat everyone the same.

WELCOME everybody to the flying site........ is were we seem to fail as a group.

What is the purpose of this thread?

djnsayne

My Feedback: (2)

LOL.......

flycatch

My Feedback: (26)

Your an idiot.

cj_rumley

Because (old) white men can't jump.......they fly toy airplanes instead.

How many of the 142 pilots are Female-Americans?

GerKonig

The OP pointed out that AA are a 32% of his population, but there are no 32% AA members in his club. Therefore, it must be AMA fault that is not advertising to a particular minority....

Everybody IS treated the same by the ATA...

Maybe if they would use models of Hindi origin we might get Hindus in our club. NJ has a high number of people of Hindi origin, but I never saw one flaying RC anywhere in our area. This has me thinking that some minorities participate more than others in some activities.
Just look at sports, not too many AA swimmers or golfers around... But they participate more in other activities...

I think all should be treated equal by the AMA, like now, for example:-)

Gerry

djnsayne

My Feedback: (2)

14 females......

warningshot

Because back when AMA was started, it was by and for white guys with some money. AMA is still stuck in the past.

flycatch

My Feedback: (26)

Ladies and gentlemen if you have not noticed. Television automobile adds are showing diversity in their commercials. This is something new but expected. The population of our nation from those groups once in the minority are now in the majority. All large corporations pander to those groups in the majority.

djnsayne

My Feedback: (2)

This shows my point..... why is our hobby not following suit and showing diversity in their ad campaings?

Mustang1971

My Feedback: (30)

Why would they? Maybe I am color blind but I have never even considered this question since I haven't seen any discrimination on any level. At our club and at our shop, ANYONE (barring certain types of convicted criminals i.e. murderers, child molesters, etc.) who is interested in model aviation will find themselves welcome to join us!

This weekend I spent my time with a Jamaican modeller, a Brazillian modeller, an Italian modeller and plenty of American (mutt) modellers!

mustang512

dynsayne,

it is really sad that you would bring this into this forum. i suspect you have other motives as you are trying to play the race card. i will have no further comments re: you and your views.

flycatch

My Feedback: (26)

I still think you are a racist. People get into this hobby because they choose to do so. The color of your skin has nothing to do with it. Politics and hobbies don't mix. Ever wonder why so many clubs fail. Or better yet why clubs break apart into splinter groups.

djnsayne

My Feedback: (2)

Not once have I mentioned discrimination at the club level, Have I?....... The only question I have posed is why there are no minorities in ad compaigns..... People are so quick to jump to assumptions because they are defensive in that they know there are issues but don't want to be held accounatble for them. BTW, I am very happy that at YOUR club eveything is fair and balanced, howvere that is not the case at my club and many other clubs all over the country.

djnsayne

My Feedback: (2)

Well since you don't know me and have never met me your opinion of me means very little.....

flycatch

My Feedback: (26)

Your words speak for themselves. People like you are tearing the fabric of this country apart.

littlecrankshaf

My Feedback: (58)

Man, thats a little rough...

I'd still like to know how marketing to minorities might even be done though. I'd be all for marketing to anyone...everyone...might just learn something with that info.

GerKonig

Well, you have a point, specially if you consider that females do not participate much in this bobby (if at all). Shall we loos our sleep over this? No, ladies do not participate much in General Aviation either. I bet not all minorities participate in this hobby the same way. This is a free country, people are free to participate or not. So if your particular minority does not have a bigger participation in your club, perhaps the AA that are members will have to try and bring people of your own color to the club...

But, you see, I am a german hispanic american-citizen and the truth is I could not care less about color, and the fact that I am a gray eyed, blond hispanic-american. Would i be another person if my color would be green? Of course not! People that are too conscious of their own color, and other people's color are in my experience racists, even if they know it or not (not too many racist people I know admit to the fact that they are racists)...

Good luck

Gerry

DOC

My Feedback: (57)

What is the Badius brother club ?

Radical Departure

My Feedback: (13)

Well.. badius means reddish brown, or chestnut color. So, he's either talking about a group of reddish brown guys, which is my first guess considering his post, or maybe.. just maybe.. he's referring to a group of guys that fly a particular RC glider.

Whichever, I have no use for that kind pointless dribble. Not enough minorities in your club and that bothers you, well, get your a** up from the computer and start recruiting. You don't like the ads in a particular magazine or such, take it up with the publisher of whatever you're looking at. I, as many others, have NEVER seen ANYONE of whatever ethnic group excluded or shunned from this HOBBY. Apparently aviation being color-blind doesnt apply to you. Now take your race-baiting BS and go away... please.

TBONE6

really?.............troll.

chris923

My Feedback: (53)

Being a modeler was has been in serveral inner-city schools for demos and hosted Bus loads of the same inner city students to our club field, I find this tread is ridiculous.

If you want to find racists, go a head........... however for me and my club... RACE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ANYTHING! It's all about modeling and the flying!

Chris923

fly24-7

A little surprise to see the venom for the OP. I'm going to take the less cynical viewpoint and think the OP was thinking aloud and doesn't have some kind of agenda. I understand with as messed-up as things are today that cynicism is almost necessary to cope with the daily BS. In my opinion, it's attitudes like this that create the divides that the hobby (and society at large) today.

So let's explore the original question. Clearly, the question needs to be addressed to the AMA as it was asked about the AMA. Many of you are sharing experiences of the racial make-up and membership policies of your clubs. That's nice of you to share, but not germane to the question.

I don't believe that asking the question implies reverse-racism, quotas, bucketing, etc... It's a reasonable question. Look at the AMA publications and advertisements. Categorize what you see (race, age, etc...) and the data will speak for itself. Do I personally think that the AMA is intentionally selecting specific races or age groups to feature in its publications? No. I think the AMA reporting on, profiling and promoting the hobby based on the portfolio of it's membership make-up today. The ambassadors they've chosen are people who've participated in the hobby since they were little kids. At that time, the make-up of the hobby's participants were largely white males.

So is it a fair question to ask, "Could an effort be made to show a wider view of the races, ages, genders participating in the hobby today so as to highlight a greater cross-section of participants?" I think it's a fair question. Now for me, here's the rub...

RCU, in my opinion, IS NOT an effective forum to start such a campaign or even to be asking such questions. Here's where the haters start to pile on me. For every thread that is helpful and enlightening and positive for RCU, there's a dozen that are full of self-righteous, uninformed and closed-minded posters who think that unless you see things their way, you're insult worthy. To further complicate matters, if you ask for very specific and targeted feedback on a particular topic, it most always is twisted and taken off-track with stupid and unrelated commentary. People can't seem to restrain themselves and say, "OK, I have nothing constructive in response to the OP's question, so I won't post." There are very few threads I read that I can say, "Wow, I learned a lot from reading that. It was good constructive dialog between people who clearly have a lot of knowledge about the subject matter being discussed."

OP, here's what I think you need to do. You want to see this improve, you need to take action yourself. Contact the AMA and not just share your concerns, OFFER SOLUTIONS! You say you have a 32% African-American demographic in your area, host a club event that caters to that group, chronicle the event and submit an event report to the AMA. That would be a good start. Then, seek out other events that can showcase minority participation and submit something on those too.

Here's a tip to help there. Look at the threads for Kentucky Jets. It's run by a fantastic guy named Lewis Patton, (who's African-American BTW) and he has fantastic levels of multi-cultural participation at this event. It's growing like nuts and is quickly becoming the premier jet event. He would be an excellent person to talk to help with your cause.

My club hosts a kids fly for a local school that focuses on minority students who are from broken homes. These are kids with potential but have next to zero family support. Seek out something similar in your area.

I hope these have been helpful tips. But in the end, if you want to see change, you'd better be prepared to drive the bus...

1596rick

amen