Austrlia GP Part 2

[Zico]

Just as in all groups (political parties included), there are certainly radicalized or extremist elements within BLM (though it's not a centralized organization). But I wasn't aware that Hamilton had made any comments tarring all members of any race or group with the same brush. If you can point something out or provide a link, I'd like to read it.

I read an article by Lewis in which he was pretty scathing of F1 being a white dominated sport with no diversity. Iirc he referred to there being no disparity in the "industry" which I took to mean F1 or motorsport in general. I dont have the exact link but it has been well documented elsewhere online.

However I do think with his recently announced foundation which is attempting to promote motorsport/engineering education paths/routes for black people, the penny has finally dropped on what the reason for that is..

Even with your anecdotal experience recognized, it still doesn't account for the fact that F1 (and Indy Car to a lesser degree) has always been a White male sport. AFAIK, there's never been any sort of serious recruiting or development initiative to get non-White prospects involved in the sport. This is, oddly enough, where NASCAR is more "advanced" than F1 in this area. I mean, let's be honest, at least in the U.S., there are loads of non-White engineering students at all of the top universities. And yes, while Black kids aren't as prevalent as Asians (including Indians), they are there. In my time at Bell Helicopter, they were there. At Cessna, they were there. At Boeing, they were there. Though under-represented when compared to the overall population, they were still there - it wasn't zero. But in F1, they are, for the most part, not there. Even worse, let's mention Asians, who are over-represented in engineering in the U.S., but who are all but absent in F1, outside of Honda and Toyota when they were there. Additionally, given F1's history (think apartheid when F1 raced in South Africa), it's not exactly ridiculous for someone to point out the fact that F1 is one of the least diverse major sports in the world. And given the former head of F1's past tendencies to make racially charged and (no doubt about it) sexist statements, that doesn't exactly provide a "good look", especially in the current environment. But F1's record of being silent on human rights issues has always been incredibly weak, as long as the checks cleared.

Of course there has to be some, just not as many as you might expect percentage wise compared to other ethnic groups.
Are there really loads of black engineers in education at the top of the US Uni's? A quick google search 'lack of black engineers' suggests otherwise. One article even suggesting racism at school, college, universities as the reason for that.

Why that is I do not know... I suspect the reason for the disparity is mainly a cultural thing rather than pure racism. Of the 9 black people I know, 2 of them are musicians, 4 work in retail, 3 others in general employment. Most of them are also involved sports, mainly football (not professionally) but not one of them employed or has a hobby in anything engineering orientated.
I know that is way too small a sample to gleen anything truly representative from but it does appear to be backed up by a simple google search, feel free.


When I decided I wanted to study Engineering, I didnt need any encouragement or for it to be promoted to me. It was apparent as a child, wanting to know how everything worked, dismantling, repairing, re-assembling everything at home. I already knew what I wanted to do before I reachex high school.
If it is cultural, as it seems to me.. is it right to accuse the education system of being racist and also try to promote cultural change because there is a minority in a given sector... mainly because if we dont get more black employees there we will be accused of being racist?

Look, it's fine to say "All Lives Matter" - that's certainly how it should be. But many of those who take issue with that statement point out that that hasn't been, and in many cases, still isn't the case in the U.S. There are still too many examples where a cop, who has clearly committed an offense, is either not charged or there are long delays and the charge is extremely light. Personally, I think that both race and socio-economic status play a part in many of these cases (Black or White, being poor and having a tricky interaction with the police might not be good for your health). But there's no doubt that race also plays a part in many of these cases. The cop who was kneeling on George Floyd's neck CLEARLY didn't think that he'd have anything to worry about. Look at how he casually had his hands in his pockets as he pressed the life out of the guy. Floyd was something less than human to him - his life certainly didn't matter. If the suspect had been an equally non-threatening White female, would he have been so bold and careless? I very, very seriously doubt it. And people know that. Hence, the outrage... misplaced or not.

Absolutely.. One rotten apple doesnt make all cops or white people racist scumbags though. The vast majority of police generally do an amazing job in the face of much adversity and hate, we only really hear about the bad cases and I think people need to recognise that.

Often I'm reminded of the famous line from Orwell's Animal Farm when I observe some of the goings on these days: All animals are equal... but some are more equal. Ol' George was a pretty smart feller - don't get me started on 1984.

Anyway, take it as you will. We all have a right to our own points of view. Hopefully we will begin to see better days and more tranquility for all as we move forward.

Indeed. While I might not agree with every single thing you have said, I agree with most of it and we are able to discuss it without hurling personal insults at each other which is key for any meaningful debate, period.
Others here could learn something from that... and considering the subject being discussed here, I hope that with it being kinda ironic and hypocritical to be so intolerant of opposing views, it is not totally lost on them.