Venting 101: “The Club”
Last week I was out of town visiting family in Jackson (Ridgeland:suburb),Miss… I had made up my mind that I was going to train while away. So I went to this place called “The Club”. Upon entering, it appeared to be a newer place with nice equipment. I met with the membership coordinator, told him I was in town for a few days and was looking to train at this facility and kindly asked him how much the fee would be. We don’t allow people to train here unless they have a membership. Are you here with a member? No. Well the membership fee is $48/month with an $80 dollar initiation fee. So there is no way I can train here even though I’m willing to pay you $$$ for a walk in fee? Nope. How do you expect people to promote your club? I have family members that are interested in joining here. No comment. My departing comment: “You know that negative word spreads much quicker than positive, right”? No reply. At this point I’m furious and just walk out. So then I quickly find 2 other gyms (Powerhouse/Courthouse) that allowed me to train, no problem! Problem solved…or so I thought.
While at one of these other gyms, I talked with another trainer. He was black (I’m white) and told me that he had just been over there and they quoted him with a $55/month and $200 initiation fee. He went on to say that racism is alive and well in Mississippi (he wasn’t angry or sore about it either). I was astounded to hear this. I guess I’m just a bit naive when it comes to this. Anyone else out there still experiencing this level of racism? Perhaps it’s more of a southern thing. In closing, I would just like to say that “The Club SUCKS”. Promoting fitness and health is for everyone.
Happens to all races and language groups. I like the tossed salad of nations here in the US because now more and more are being exposed to this brand of stupidity. I find it funny when other races come here and align themselves with caucasians and begin to look down on the “minorities”. As if they aren’t.
Racism: it’s here & it’s not going away. Identify it and don’t turn a blind eye.
I grew up mostly in Louisiana and was exposed to that shit all the time. It’s really amazing: you’re friends with someone all through childhood, know for a fact that the guy’s nice and level-headed, and then one day, somewhere around Jr. high or high school, he’ll say something like “I fucking hate niggers”. And you’re thinking, “Where did THAT come from?” It’s like it just springs up out of the ground or something. Unbelievable.
I think that you should get the address of that club and then refer to the “dirty tricks” thread, specifically the post made by Jim Kubler. Heh heh.
First of all, you can’t really call this “racist.” Number one, you don’t know that it was the same person quoting the price to you and the black guy. Perhaps different salesmen quote different prices to different people. Have you ever heard of price discrimination? Now, if this were a pattern of behavior, then you could label it racially discriminatory. The gym can charge any price they want to; if you don’t like it, haggle, and if they don’t budge, walk out.
I just moved from Maine to Missouri. In Maine, I din’t think there really was any racism left in the US, or barely any. But then I moved here, I now hear “nigger” from people I thought would know much better. I haven’t seen any outright racism myself, as in treating black people differently, but there definitely is a feeling of being different than the black people.
I might add that I still don’t think there is very much racism in the US, and that many black people are hypersensitive. I think that alot of the differences come from the black people largely living in the poor side of town(I realize there are many exceptions, but look at the percentage), and this is a culture difference. Alot of places just would rather cater to people with money, though it’s wrong to assume that a black guy is poor or low-class. As if this difference isn’t enough, many of these people are on welfare; that is where many white tax-payerstart to get annoyed at these folks. Its not just a black thing, I’m white and I have no respect for white trash on welfare when they’re too lazy to work. Another thing is the fact that alot of black people get jobs easier than white people; companies have to have a certain percentage of minorities, so they are forced into racism. Yes, racism can be on both sides. I’m not saying its OK to gripe about black people being on welfare and getting jobs unfairly, I’m just saying that there is a reason for some of this attitude. I think most of what is called racism is merely misunderstanding. The club that the poster mentioned was certainly racist, however. I’ve never been to the deeper south and therefore can’t speak for down there. From what I’ve heard, real racism is much more prevalent.
the good thing is that people are atleast attuned to racism and critical about it here as a whole. in china, japan, etc. it is common practice to rip off foreigners, whites in particular. they also extol the virtues of keepin the ‘yellow seed’ pure. England had big issues with the black goalie on their own soccer team last year… then there’s the middle east
On the whole “hypersensitive” blacks, I give a single case.
When I was at the University of Washington (1984, I think it was), I was in the student union building studying and having a bite to eat. Well, in one room there is a TV and vending machines, and a change machine (this was before ATMs were prevalent). It was in the late afternoon, so there weren’t very many people in the building. A small group of mixed blacks (male and female) came in there to get some food (loose interpretation) from the vending machine, but needed to get change. So, over to the change machine they go. One gets change. The second one (female) tries, and the dollar gets spit back out. Tries again – no luck. Her friends have gone on down the hall, so she yells out (as she’s leaving), “It won’t take my dollar because I’m BLACK!”
Now, aside from the total lack of intelligence in that remark, the only discrimination there is that imposed by the person on the receiving end.
Racism is a topic I have strong feelings about. I agree with whomever said racism is very much alive today. It’s sad that lines are drawn between races. Sometimes I’ll stop, look around and study the patterns people have. The majority of the time you see caucasian people walking and talking with caucasians, african-americans walking and talking with african-americans, etc. I don’t beleive this is what life’s about. I beleive that there’s only one simple way to beat racism. Make it your personal responsibility. Be the bigger person, keep and open mind and break down barriers. Don’t let someones ignorance dictate the path your life will take. If I were a racist person, I would have missed out on meeting people who have played a major role in my life. I refuse to mindlessly conform to any ideas that lead one the think he is above or “better” than another. Just my two cents on the situation…Isn’t this better suited for the Off-Topic board?
Oh, geez: the Chinese and Japanese “extol the virtues of keepin the ‘yellow seed’ pure”? And they “rip off” foreigners? “Whites in particular”?
You know, maybe there was a time when that whole "yellow seed needs to be pure" crappola was true. And that time was when my mom married my dad - back in the early 60's. But it hasn't been the case anymore. And for awhile. You better have some strong evidence to support what you said. Really strong.
My apologies to BodyIQ for momentarily directing this thread away from his original intent.
Name one culture where one father or mother does not extol the virtue’s of marrying their own race. While stationed in Okinawa I did experience the “keeping the yellow seed pure” nonsense but no more than whites, blacks, latins, here in the US…get my drift.
Back to the original post, the racism displayed is not just a southern thing. It’s just less “hidden” in the south. Sheeesh, there still battling about keeping the confederate flag waving when no one alive was around when it was created. It slays me how people are fighting to keep it because it “simply” represents “southern pride & heritage”. Wasn’t part of that pride the size of the plantation and number of slaves? Shoot, you get racism wherever you look, it’s there. Problem is if you play the “race card” then you’re too weak to make it without it and if you don’t play the card then you take your chances. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
Workout where they only care about the color of your money and lift big!! Croooz
I was born and raised in Memphis,Tn and recently moved to New Jersey.You are narrow minded yourself in saying racism is a southern thing.I can honestly say that the New York and Philadelphia areas are more racist than Memphis.I have never been anywhere that is more segregated than the northeast.And I see more black/white couples in one day in Memphis than I see in a week in New Jersey.And it is still rare to see that in Memphis.Any body remember the incident in New York where 3 black teens were beat and one died when their car broke down in a white neighborhood in 1986.That hasn’t happened in Memphis probably since the 60’s.So drop this shit where only southners are the only racist people in the country,you will see racism just as easily in Los Angeles as you will in Birmingham Alabama
Oh so sorry Mr. Charlie to have to most honorably disagree with your comments. First of all, this “yellow seed” ain’t so pure. Second, I’ve had my ass kicked more than once by rednecks and ka-dodies because apparently Pearl Harbor was my personal fault.
Your basic premise that racism is alive and well is a point that is well taken. Your post has deftly demonstrated the same.
I witnessed racism in Canada, and I also witnessed racism in Los Angeles, CA and Birmingham, AL. Racism is everywhere. As long as there are idiots who think they’re the best just because their skin is white, yellow, or whatever, there’ll be racism.
pretty good replies. sometimes you have to push the envelope. most people seem to have things that they do not want to talk about. asian racism is and generally for as long as i’ve been alive, has been one of them. Case in point is that i was educated at public school (direct reflection of governmental belief). In all of my education the Nazis were demonized as Satan equivalents with their extreme facism and hatred for other races day in and day out with only sparse mention of Japanese atrocities (which are to my knowledge relatively comparable). Personally my parents fall under the “whatever makes you happy boat” although i know i have some biggotted relatives who wouldn’t agree with interacial marriage. I can’t be at fault for random rednecks’ actions any more than trialdog can be for pearl harbor… My mere point is the difference in cultural acceptance of racism. My take is that the American culture with the current dominance of Political Correctness is aware and against racism as a whole. Meanwhile other cultures have euphemisms and practices which to us would be considered racist. This is the interesting aspect of perspective. I have heard much about the value of japanese staying japanese, chinese to chinese, etc and the relative haughtiness of ‘pure’ cultures over koreans for they are a mixed breed (in the physiological way that Americans are to Germans or English). While I believe voltaire in that ‘prejudices are what fools use for reason,’ it seems that if by attempting to make an objective analysis of a culture I am a racist, then all modern sociologists would be racists as well.