heights with his athletic skills as one of a few professional black
rock climbers.
Myles Washington
Lightner told The Huffington Post that he can't remember a time when
he wasn't finding ways to get his two feet off the ground and that he
started climbing when he was six years old.
Eventually, he said, someone at his mom's job recognized his talent
and suggested that she take him to the local rock-climbing gym where
he soon discovered his passion for the activity. He's won several
championshipsfor his incredible ability, but he said his experiences
as a black climber has been somewhat of a challenge.
"When I would tell [black] people that my sport was rock-climbing they
would look at me funny, and ask 'What is that?' 'We don't do that,'"
Lightner said.
In 2013, the Smithsonianreported that 78 percent of Americans who took
part in outdoor activities, which included rock climbing, were white.
Rock climber and journalist James Mills explained the misperception of
black people in outdoor sports and the lack of representation of
people of color.
"It's not a question of whether or nor African-Americans can climb
mountains. What matters is as [a] group we tend not to," Mills wrote.
"And for a variety of different social and cultural reasons the world
of mountaineering has been relegated almost exclusively to white men."
There are structural influences that have barred black people from
participating in outdoor sports such as rock climbing, which has kept
the majority of participants white. Lightner said he has felt
accepted by other climbers, but that he has gotten a lot of grief from
other people of color for his participation in the sport.
Lightner, who is from a predominantly black community in Fayetteville,
North Carolina, said he has received comments from other black people
that made him feel pigeonholed by their definition of what type of
sports black people should get involved in such as basketball or
football.
Source: http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/564f40cee4b0d4093a57533c?ir=Teen
No comments:
Post a Comment