Posted by: Hepcat
Anybody seen PB this morning? They've got a front page article addressing race and accessibility.
Meanwhile all we've got is Marcus blithely plowing ahead with his inane nonsense...
https://m.pinkbike.com/news/race-and-accessibility-in-the-mountain-bike-community.html
I think to a large degree because of it's bigger audience PB has more voices that verge on on the negative side of social issues such as racism. I find here on NSMB that the community does a good job of policing itself when it comes to bigotry and hate, so you very rarely see it here and it is quickly extinguished. As to the wider issue of minorities participating in mtn biking I think it's well know that mtb'ing is not an inexpensive activity and that the cost represents a huge barrier to participation. The conversation also needs to include poverty and the reasons for it as the rates of poverty in Canada for ethnic people are more than double that of caucasian people. When it comes to participation rates by various races/ethnicities it's important to consider the demographic make-up of Metro Van. When you compare that to the mtb'ing public they do not line up. Of course there are reasons beyond cost though as to why mtb'ing seems to be a mainly white activity and the visibility of your own kind in an activity is one of those (this applies to things beyond sport as well, such as politics). For instance in Vancouver the black community is quite small, so even if cost was not a barrier to access we probably wouldn't see high mtb'ing participation figures by black people. However if you switch that thinking to Indigenous people, then there's a conversation to be had, especially on the North Shore. In general, on a societal level we're still a white dominant culture where being white is considered the preference or norm.
IMO there is definitely room for some sort of program that focuses on getting Indigenous people into mtb'ing both by removing barriers such as cost as well as into trail building. I think there are some amazing opportunities for the NSMBA to potentially develop programs that focus on Indigenous youth and mtb'ing and I know there is some interest there. I could see an amazing program that connects mtb'ing with Indigenous communities in the S2S corridor.