Bringing more African Americans to the hobby?

[fireman1]

One thing that hurts all shooting sports are the idiots in that discipline. You know the ones, self important d-bags that look down on newbies. New guy asks a question...probably been asked 100 times but he is new and doesn't know. He gets jumped for itand never goes back or his question and his interest in that particular subject are ignored and again, he goes away.

Let me share an example. I would love to try out reenacting. I was at an F&I event where a unit portrayed was from teh county I was born and grew up in.....900 miles from where we were. I asked a ton of questions up to and including "How would a guy get involved in this?" Not one guy out of several I spoke to said "hey, come join us!" I got nothing from them. Pretty hard to grow a hobby or a unit with that attitude.

 

[smo]

Well said tenngun..

fireman1 Wow! Surprised that happened...

I’ve never experienced anything like that, anywhere.

Usually people are more than willing too answer any questions.. and offer advice.
Good or Bad, to be determined later.

Reach out in your area to the NMLRA Rep.
He can hook you up with some likeminded individuals.
Or at least some one interested in muzzleloaders.

 

[appalichian hunter]

Nice picture Dave, for your interest there is a statue in Hagerstown, Md. at the end of Jonathan street of a Buffalo solider who is the metal of honor recipient.

 

[dave951]

I think that’s true, but another part feeds in to it. Up till the seventies a kid could get a car and do much work on it, turn it in to a hot rod if he wanted.
Model building and train sets were popular.
Imagination was important. No movie special effects were as good as you can see in your minds eye when the book was read.
After that came the computers. Cars came more complex to work on each year video games came mor magical. Models and trains became an adult hobby. Special effects became better then real.
In camping micro fabrics and MRIs that taste good came in to use
We have little path for the young to follow to our sport.

My $.02 on that. What I’ve seen are often parents more interested in getting ahead and relegating raising the kids to school, etc. Many kids aren’t exposed to the shooting sports in a positive way and we’re seeing the inevitable results. A number of the kids we worked with in summer BP instruction were “minorities” and from my POV, I don’t care about skin color, age etc, what I want to see is interest in learning and being safe with guns.

 

[Kansas Jake]

Another aspect of difficulty for shooting sports is the overall change in society from many rural and small town folks to a more urban society. 60 years ago many kids could step out their back door and in a short time be somewhere where they could hunt or shoot on their own. Today those places are much more rare. I grew up on a farm in Nebraska. I'll bet 1/2-2/3rds of the farmsteads are no longer there with the decline in population on the farm and places close to my hometown where a kid could hunt or shoot without a hassle are basically non existent. Growing any shooting sport will take intentionality beyond us old geezers.

 

[tenngun]

Henry the viii, outlawed lawn bowling, too many people were bowling instead of shooting at butts. It was lawn bowling then.
Used to be on a weekend people would have a game of the popular sport. Baseball became popular in the post WTBS. Every little tavern and many churches put up teams.
Now we watch Pros play the games our ancestors enjoyed.
Barn raising and house building was a community event.
Now you can build your house or hire pros to come in and build it but the community won’t.
The world changes
I know there is some jousters as Hobbiest but I’m sure some old grey beard complained about 1600 ‘none of these kids want to joust any more.’
And a few centuries before old grey beards complained’ no one wants to melee any more.’
Much of our things like WTBS one gets accused of racism if you don grey, and our colonial time is, well colonial. Bad boys!
After us the deluge
The complaint of every grey beard since the dawn of civilization

 

[Cattman]

on sept 29 this year my sister called me and said go to chadron ne. and buy the 1858 remington 45 long colt conversion, its my birthday present to you. WOW i did. while i was buying it their was 3 african americans in their also and they bought a semi auto handgun and 2 shot guns. now in our state you have to have a card for the local police thats says your ok to by a gun of any kind. they are in the loop but it may not be muzzleloaders but they are in the gun loop and they were checked out by the police. the gun dept of ace hardware made some money that day.

 

[Rick65]

How many graybeards does it take to change a lightbulb?
Three: one to change it, and two to complain about how much better the old bulb was.....

(not saying they're wrong)

 

[griffiga]

Two of my best friends are Black and Native American, we go shooting all the time, modern and black powder. We kid and tease each other in a way most wouldn’t get away with, and I’m usually the target as both gang up on me. Karl Malone, who played for the Utah Jazz, was one of the most avid hunters Utah has seen. He belonged and donated to several sportsmans and shooting clubs. I think it’s more of how and where you were raised.

 

[TNGhost]

I am all for recruiting as many people into muzzleloading as possible.

I am totally against recruiting this group, or that group, because we don't have enough of them.

Until we stop making those distinctions entirely, the "problem" if there is one, will not go away.

 

[hogslayer]

Do unto others , as you would have others , do unto you............oldwood

But Do it First.

 

[Treestalker]

My father was a Captain in the US ARMY AIR CORP back in '41 and volunteered as primary command instructor, when no one else would, for the first all black pilots in Stearman biplanes, then to AT-6. No one thought they would advance further than transport pilots. When the demand for fighter pilots began in earnest, with Tusgeegee advanced command, dad recommended training in P40's, then sent to North Africa in which the black pilots excelled beyond belief...then they advanced to P51's and due to pilot shortages escorting bombers out of England...the black pilots as you now know them as Red Tails, became the best America had to off...ever!

What is really disheartening, I inherited from my dad when he passed away, all the flight records, medical records and incredible photos of the early primary training days of the black pilots, many who went on to advanced and European command... and several years ago, tried to offer them to museums, from Presidential to Smithsonian and all agreed to file them in historical records for posterity, but not one agreed to make a permanent exhibit ! As a result, I still have all those valuable records and soon I will try again!

The more things change the more they stay the same, damned shame. Your example of the Museums is unfortunately an almost expected response of the 'intellegentsia' towards anything martial or military and especially praising a minority's contributions. I would point any literate person to the accounts of the 'Buffalo' Soldiers and their stalwart duty under difficult and thankless conditions.

 

[Treestalker]

Race is a proven source of power and income. It's not going anywhere any time soon.

1911tex,

You are holding onto something invaluable, you may have to "do it yourself." Set up your own "display" of sorts, use social media to gain attention, you might find more eager museums then.

Race is a proven source of power and income. It's not going anywhere any time soon.

1911tex,

You are holding onto something invaluable, you may have to "do it yourself." Set up your own "display" of sorts, use social media to gain attention, you might find more eager museums then.

Hi, 1911Tex, You might consider publishing a book with the material you have, to preserve it before you pass and some unknowing relative dumps it in the trash. Who knows how much primary history has been lost in that manner.

 

[LuVerne Schumann]

Black Americans would be more apt to take up blackpowder shooting if Hollyweird would make movies about black people who bore arms in the blackpowder era.

To do so, however, those same Hollyweirdos would need to stop demonizing slavery and slave owners and inject some of the actual nuance of the time.

Many slaveowners had non-stereotypical relationships with their slaves. Many black men and women were freed and took up frontiersman and other roles that involved carrying and shooting a rifle.

George Washington owned a slave named Toby Anderson who did wood work for him and they developed as close a friendship as Washington had. He came and went as he pleased, and had a family on a neighboring plantation. Washington would often borrow Toby's punt to travel by water, and once was unable to return it to the exact place from where he borrowed it, and Washington went, literally hat in hand to apologize to Toby for his misbehavior.

Tobias Gilmore also was linked to Washington, and is purported to be the black man in the painting "Washington crosses the Delaware". True or not, he earned his freedom by fighting for the new nation, and became a prosperous businessman, but took the time out of being successful to help put down Shay's rebellion.

James Robertson, who more than any other man is responsible for the formation of Tennessee as a state, had a ***** companion. They had adventures together for years, and this man was quite the frontiersman. I don't have this man's name at hand, but he later gave his life to defend the Robertson household when he could have easily avoided the fight entirely as he was at a neighbors house with a romantic interest at the time.

There are more compelling stories like this, but not much interest in creating them into on-screen narratives for the masses.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

Frankly, I wouldn't care if someone was purple. Interest is the common denominator. There was a black couple at the Eastern a few times that I recall. super nice folks. I remember one guy mentioning them being there and his buddy says, when was the last time YOU went and spent a week with several thousand black people. I see all manner of extraordinary folks in my travels and little surprises me anymore, especially after seeing the black dwarf Amish fellow driving a wagon and team down a big highway.

 

[tenngun]

I am all for recruiting as many people into muzzleloading as possible.

I am totally against recruiting this group, or that group, because we don't have enough of them.

Until we stop making those distinctions entirely, the "problem" if there is one, will not go away.

I think all of us see your point. We accept whomever to our sport. There is a place at the fire for all.
However I just saw where an LA paper reported camping was raciest. It was evidenced by the fact few ‘people of color’ camp.
We are not a ‘whites only’ sport, nor do we want to be perceived as that.

 

[TNGhost]

I think all of us see your point. We accept whomever to our sport. There is a place at the fire for all.
However I just saw where an LA paper reported camping was raciest. It was evidenced by the fact few ‘people of color’ camp.
We are not a ‘whites only’ sport, nor do we want to be perceived as that.

Face it, today anything that is predominately white is "racist" according to the propagandists, yet the NBA being 75%+ black, is not advocating or recruiting more whites to balance the scale.

Simple numbers (blacks make up 12-13% of the population and have since the end of the civil war), say blacks are not going to make up anywhere near half of any given pool of people in this country. Why anyone would advocate that they should make up more than one in ten or so is questionable, and by definition would be racist.

We need to drop any reference to race when discussion things at all to solve this "problem".

Are one in ten blacks muzzleloader enthusiasts? I don't know and I don't care. If someone is interested I welcome them with open arms and will help them all I can regardless of what they look like. No matter what anyone does, they will not interest me in the numbers game, or get me to believe that line of thinking is in and of itself not racism.

As far as the perception of the sport? We all know that muzzleloading is not a "whites only" sport and that is all that's necessary. That does not mean we have to go out of the way to recruit a certain demographic to assuage our "guilt" or "make things right" I am not "guilty" and as far as I am concerned things are "right".

Oh and by the way, there are many, many groups, hobbies, businesses, employers, etc, that are more than 12% black, and they are still considered "racist" So what do you propose we do to counter "the shame of it"?

The OP was misguided to even bring up this topic as it only brings more credibility to what is an imaginary problem.

 

[LuVerne Schumann]

I think all of us see your point. We accept whomever to our sport. There is a place at the fire for all.
However I just saw where an LA paper reported camping was raciest. It was evidenced by the fact few ‘people of color’ camp.
We are not a ‘whites only’ sport, nor do we want to be perceived as that.

You make the error of thinking journalists are decent human beings.

They are not. Journalists and journalism is the most corrupt of all jobs, including bank robbers, serial killers and rapists.

I refuse to be judged by sub human pieces of garbage.

 

[TNGhost]

You make the error of thinking journalists are decent human beings.

They are not. Journalists and journalism is the most corrupt of all jobs, including bank robbers, serial killers and rapists.

I refuse to be judged by sub human pieces of garbage.

Correct and on point.

Like a bad teacher telling pupils they are worthless, or a bad boss deriding and belittling employees, the media are trash.

 

[Carbon 6]

However I just saw where an LA paper reported camping was raciest. It was evidenced by the fact few ‘people of color’ camp.

Did you read the article ?