by GroundquestMSA » Sep 18, 2014 8:44 pm
It seems to me that the readily obvious factors behind the lack of involvement in caving, and perhaps other outdoor activities, by non-white minorities are the same factors that effect all of us and our choice of activity, namely; disinterest, fear, and lack of opportunity.
It's hard to say why a certain group should be disinterested in caving when it's so hard to say why we are interested in it. I think that minorities share many of the same basic motivations that whites react to by caving, they just choose to fulfill them in different ways. This is the toughest factor to understand, or even express.
The lack of opportunity consists of more than just a lack of funds, which is surely one factor. The stated goal of so-called racial equality may be being realized in some, mostly superficial, senses, but in the matter of opportunity to appreciate and interact with nature, the damage may be already done and take a lot of undoing. That racial minorities are disproportionately represented in urban areas has already been mentioned, but why is this the case? Many are able to live in rural areas because of a direct or indirect involvement in farming. Black citizens were at a real disadvantage in efforts to own and operate farms after the abolishment of slavery. As small farms vanished and sharecropping workers sought to escape direct employment by powerful white farmers, condensation in cities began. Many black youths, now, have no rural heritage, excepting a long-ago, painful one. There are many urban cavers who are white, but their perception of "the country" is not automatically marred by a traumatic and mercilessly laborious past. The lack of an inherited connection to rural places equals a lack of opportunity that I don't think is easily overcome. In fact, there may be no desire to connect with rural life in any form because of the trauma it represents. Y'all are speaking of Vietnam. On the way to work today I saw a car with a POW/MIA sticker and another with the words "Forget the war, not the warriors." I have no idea how history effects today's minorities, but I can accept that it may, deeply.
A few kinds of fear, at least, keep us from doing things. Legitimate fear of real dangers, phobias, meaning unreasonable fears that persist despite the knowledge that they are unreasonable, and fears based on ignorance. Sometimes they work together, as they do in my case to keep me from becoming a diver. Sometimes they evolve from ignorant fears to phobias. Many cavers must overcome, or live with, quasi-phobias in order to explore caves. Irrational fears of darkness, tight places, and heights are very common. Most of the fear of caves though, is based on ignorance. There is no doubt that many urban blacks are very ignorant of animal and other natural life. This results in a lot of somewhat comical but ultimately unfortunate fears. The only people I've personally known to be afraid of cats, butterflies, and chickens were black. These phobias can only be the results of a profound disconnect from reality, a cultural ignorance. As time passes, urban and suburban whites are also losing all connection with rural or natural life, and cultivating the same ignorant fears.
In the end, I don't think it's possible to completely answer the original question, though it is one I will remain interested in trying to answer. All I find in my wanderings are more questions, which is sometimes as good as it gets. No matter how confusing, it's fascinating to realize the subtle ways that our cultures and histories effect our behavior and interests.