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Poll

What race are you? Male or Female?

White
89 (46.8%)
Black
1 (0.5%)
Hispanic or Latino
4 (2.1%)
Asian
0 (0%)
Middle Eastern
1 (0.5%)
American Indian or Alaska Native
6 (3.2%)
Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander
0 (0%)
Some other race
4 (2.1%)
Male
78 (41.1%)
Female
7 (3.7%)

Total Members Voted: 0

Author Topic: Beekeeper by race  (Read 7063 times)

Offline contactme_11

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Beekeeper by race
« on: March 01, 2010, 09:00:16 pm »
Yesterday I had a friend of mine, who happens to be an African-American (black) man ask if he could buy a package of bees from me this spring. He said it would be his first hive and was really excited. I was happy to let him know that I still had a couple available.
After he left I started thinking about it and up to this point I had never met a beekeeper who was not white. I realize that people keep bees all over the world, but in the U.S. (the melting pot of the world) I've never seen but one race keep bees. I live in an area that has many high populations in a variety of different races.
So out of shear curiosity I am starting a poll of the races on this site.
DISCLAIMER: I am not a prejudice person. I have friends of many different races and backgrounds. I have no bias whatsoever. If you do then you need not participate in this survey. This is not meant to be controversial. If you do want to participate then please state your race and sex. It is highly generalized because to state every race would take to long (for instance Polish, Irish, etc are all white, African, Haitian, etc are all black), if you want to post your actual exact race that is up to you. DO NOT MOCK OTHER RACES IN YOUR POSTS, KEEP IT CLEAN!

Online Kathyp

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Re: Beekeeper by race
« Reply #1 on: March 01, 2010, 09:14:11 pm »
you did not need the disclaimer.  i think it's an interesting question.
Someone really ought to tell them that the world of Ayn Rand?s novel was not meant to be aspirational.

Offline asprince

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Re: Beekeeper by race
« Reply #2 on: March 01, 2010, 09:32:00 pm »
Great Poll! I have often wondered myself.

Steve
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Online Jim134

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Re: Beekeeper by race
« Reply #3 on: March 01, 2010, 10:35:37 pm »
Great poll


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Offline harvey

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Re: Beekeeper by race
« Reply #4 on: March 01, 2010, 11:01:24 pm »
I am sorry and mean no offense to anyone on here BUT!       I am an american,  I speak a bastard form of english and can't even tell you for sure what country my ancestors came from.  I was in the military for 12 years and was overseas three times.  I am not black or white or spanish or jew,  Just an American,  of which I believe I am getting close to being placed on the minority, endangered species list.    Again no offense,  just tired of trying to read the ingredients to something in spanish or being asked to marke dos on the phone. 

Offline Robo

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Re: Beekeeper by race
« Reply #5 on: March 01, 2010, 11:11:52 pm »
you did not need the disclaimer. 

It is amazing what political correctness forces us to do.........
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Online Kathyp

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Re: Beekeeper by race
« Reply #6 on: March 01, 2010, 11:17:34 pm »
point taken harvey, but still an interesting question.  i did not know any female beekeepers until i got on here.
Someone really ought to tell them that the world of Ayn Rand?s novel was not meant to be aspirational.

Offline bee-nuts

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Re: Beekeeper by race
« Reply #7 on: March 01, 2010, 11:30:36 pm »
I never thought about that till I saw a black guy in a beek video on you tube or something.  Its a bit odd when you think about it. 
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Thomas Jefferson

Offline Michael Bush

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Re: Beekeeper by race
« Reply #8 on: March 02, 2010, 12:25:15 am »
At beekeeping meetings, I have seen an occasional black person.  Any large one usually has one or two, but usually not more.  I know, personally several black beekeepers, but they are the minority it seems...
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Offline Hemlock

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Re: Beekeeper by race
« Reply #9 on: March 02, 2010, 01:04:21 am »
Well for what it's worth the bee club im in is likely 80% male.  But the beginners class is just above 50% male.  Almost all white with one Hispanic guy.  (He's worked bees his whole life and has forgotten more about bees than I'll ever know about them)
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Offline bassman1977

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Re: Beekeeper by race
« Reply #10 on: March 02, 2010, 01:20:47 am »
It would be interesting to add a general location to this too.  Too late I guess but something to think about if the topic comes up again.
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Offline Gena

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Re: Beekeeper by race
« Reply #11 on: March 02, 2010, 02:02:00 am »
The guy who helped me get started is black.  he has over 600 hives - I guess I never thought about it.  good poll. Gena

Offline contactme_11

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Re: Beekeeper by race
« Reply #12 on: March 02, 2010, 07:53:00 am »
I am sorry and mean no offense to anyone on here BUT!       I am an american,  I speak a bastard form of english and can't even tell you for sure what country my ancestors came from.  I was in the military for 12 years and was overseas three times.  I am not black or white or spanish or jew,  Just an American,  of which I believe I am getting close to being placed on the minority, endangered species list.    Again no offense,  just tired of trying to read the ingredients to something in spanish or being asked to marke dos on the phone. 
When it asks on forms, like at the hospital, which box do you check? The great majority of Americans fall into 3 general categories, white, hispanic, or black. It does not mean that you are not American.

Offline Scadsobees

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Re: Beekeeper by race
« Reply #13 on: March 02, 2010, 08:41:03 am »
I think it probably has a lot to do with what segments of the population does what.  Beekeeping has a lot to do with farming, and for example, in my area as far as I can tell, the farmers are mostly white, as are beekeepers.

I don't think it has anything to do with race, more to do with primary occupation, or at least the primary occupation of the area.
Rick

Offline gaucho10

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Re: Beekeeper by race
« Reply #14 on: March 02, 2010, 09:06:41 am »
White, Hispanic male, Naturalized in the US with US citizenship.  Also Argentinian citizenship for life.  Trilingual with three different family costumes.  Came to US in June 1962.  I was born in Argentina out of Polish parents.  My uncles did have a farm back there and one of them did keep bees.  My Polish parents did come from a Polish farm but did not keep bees.  Their neighbors did!  When I got started in beekeeping back in 1979 my father got a real big kick out of it and joined-in every time I would "work" the bees.  He even stood next to me watching w/o a shirt while I was totally protected.  The bees would charge me but would not affect him at all.  I got interested in bees out of pure interest and nothing to do with family background.
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Offline Two Bees

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Re: Beekeeper by race
« Reply #15 on: March 02, 2010, 09:09:56 am »
Good point!

In my local club, we have about 150-175 active members and only about 2-3 are black.  Interesting thing though, our local association has about 40% women as members and a lot of the local university researchers are women.  Makes for an interesting meeting!   :)
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Offline Eshu

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Re: Beekeeper by race
« Reply #16 on: March 02, 2010, 01:11:22 pm »
Our local beekeeping club is a bit unusual.  The membership seems about 60% female and about 90%+ top-bar hive only beekeepers. 

Offline wd

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Re: Beekeeper by race
« Reply #17 on: March 02, 2010, 01:34:33 pm »
The closest club appears to be roughly a 2.5 hour drive away. Therefore I don't participate in a club at this time. From those I see locally working in the field, there are white, hispanic or latino. Hispanic / Latino are usually hired help. I have often been mistakenly perceived by others to be hispanic or latino. For race, I consider myself an english speaking Heinz 57.

Offline iddee

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Re: Beekeeper by race
« Reply #18 on: March 02, 2010, 01:39:21 pm »
When I went to school, they taught us there were 3 races. Caucasian, Negroid, and Oriental. Who added all the other races you speak of? And when and why? And by what authority?

I am Caucasian with a dozen nationalities in my tree.
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Offline Grid

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Re: Beekeeper by race
« Reply #19 on: March 02, 2010, 01:48:13 pm »
To put this poll into context, we should consider where the people on the forum are from.  For example, we all talk about Kenyan and Tanzanian Top Bar Hives.  I would guess that in Kenya and Tanzania, black beekeepers are fairly common, whereas I would not expect to see many in say Norway.  :)

I have a friend from Zimbabwe who did some work for the UN for a while.  When Obama won in the States, she was with a bunch of her black American friends, who got really excited about the win.  Her response I thought was bang on - "Why are you so excited about a black president?!?  I see them all the time."

Grid.

Offline lakeman

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Re: Beekeeper by race
« Reply #20 on: March 02, 2010, 04:37:03 pm »
To put this poll into context, we should consider where the people on the forum are from.  For example, we all talk about Kenyan and Tanzanian Top Bar Hives.  I would guess that in Kenya and Tanzania, black beekeepers are fairly common, whereas I would not expect to see many in say Norway.  :)

I have a friend from Zimbabwe who did some work for the UN for a while.  When Obama won in the States, she was with a bunch of her black American friends, who got really excited about the win.  Her response I thought was bang on - "Why are you so excited about a black president?!?  I see them all the time."

Grid.


I do believe that the whole purpose of the poll, is to see what the membership of the forum is.  We do have members from all over the world, and this is good. The more interaction between citezens all over the world is very good for world peace.
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Offline brer

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Re: Beekeeper by race
« Reply #21 on: March 02, 2010, 08:18:59 pm »
I think the original poster did have a decent idea, just to get a grip on demographics, but it does have the problem of bringing politics and race relations into the forum.

Hey, I like this place.  I've already gone through about 80 pages of threads on general beekeeping and am picking up scads of knowledge for when I start my hives.

I would not like to leave this forum if it becomes political.

Online Kathyp

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Re: Beekeeper by race
« Reply #22 on: March 02, 2010, 08:39:33 pm »
Quote
I would not like to leave this forum if it becomes political.

i don't see any problem with any of the posts here.  we have a place for politics.  most of the time we are pretty good about keeping it separate from the beekeeping.  talking about race and occupation, IMHO, is not political.  twitchy people might feel otherwise, but they are free to skip this particular post.
Someone really ought to tell them that the world of Ayn Rand?s novel was not meant to be aspirational.

Offline fish_stix

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Re: Beekeeper by race
« Reply #23 on: March 02, 2010, 09:18:27 pm »
I agree with Kathy. This media works the same as a TV; if you don't like a program/thread then turn it off or change channels, IOW don't read it. This thread doesn't appear to me to be political in any way. People are different, races are different! So we can't talk about the melting pot makeup of the forum? GMAB!

Offline brer

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Re: Beekeeper by race
« Reply #24 on: March 02, 2010, 09:20:11 pm »
Kathyp, I hope that I am not acting twitchy, nor overly sensitive.

I've been on quite a few hobbyist forums over the years.  Generally, as a rule, they start to go downhill quick just as soon as they start allowing threads, that while applicable, have the ability to detract from the forums primary purpose.  Everyone has their own views about race, politics, religion,and quite a few other things that people have strong emotions about.  While often entertaining in their own right, they tend to subtract and distract from the stated purpose of a forum and set it on new tangents.

This is likely one of the threads that the mods should monitor closely.  Let it exist, but be ready to shut it down quick if it goes south. Besides, I still have two hundred something pages of threads to read through in general beekeeping :).  

Offline contactme_11

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Re: Beekeeper by race
« Reply #25 on: March 02, 2010, 10:39:47 pm »
Kathyp, I hope that I am not acting twitchy, nor overly sensitive.

I've been on quite a few hobbyist forums over the years.  Generally, as a rule, they start to go downhill quick just as soon as they start allowing threads, that while applicable, have the ability to detract from the forums primary purpose.  Everyone has their own views about race, politics, religion,and quite a few other things that people have strong emotions about.  While often entertaining in their own right, they tend to subtract and distract from the stated purpose of a forum and set it on new tangents.

This is likely one of the threads that the mods should monitor closely.  Let it exist, but be ready to shut it down quick if it goes south. Besides, I still have two hundred something pages of threads to read through in general beekeeping :).  
That's why I put a disclaimer. People need not post if they want to start controversy.

Offline Wynoochee_newbee_guy

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Re: Beekeeper by race
« Reply #26 on: March 02, 2010, 11:12:03 pm »
Well How about this Native Alaskan/ white guy beek thats me :-D I think its interesting poll. All my life I loved playing with insects now I get to have real fun with it. This is a hobby that any one can do any race, rich or poor, young or old male or female. To me I have meet some of the most awsome nice gentel people in all the world who keep bees :-D
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Offline Grid

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Re: Beekeeper by race
« Reply #27 on: March 02, 2010, 11:45:16 pm »
I hope I didn't stir things up.  Not my intention.  I was just adding my $0.02.   :-X  

I am a white Canadian born in Montreal who lived in Botswana Africa for 8 years during my youth.  Interestingly, it took until now, almost 30 years later, to find out that in Botswana they keep bees in TBH's they call "Honey Cows".  Traditionally, cattle equals wealth.  So culturally the bee hives were the beekeepers' wealth, their cows.  Plus, with four legs and a body already, add a head and a tail in your mind's eye, and they look a bit like cows.  :)

My first exposure to beekeeping was in Botswana.  An Indian friend of mine (from India) found a hive in the ground.  We smoked it with burned dung (his idea) fanned into the hole with sheets of cardboard.  We dug it out, found the queen, put her in a match box with holes, put that in a cardboard box along with all the comb, and waited 30 minutes until most of the bees were in the box.  Still a lot flying around though.  Then we walked it home - a swarm with two kids at its heart.  Hehe!  The looks we got!  As I recall he kept them in that cardboard box for the first year - tied the comb onto square sticks, and turned it into a mini TBH.

I'm guessing there must be at least two different types of bees there.  Not sure, but we dug out those bees and he kept them no problem.  That doesn't sound like our friends the Africanized Honey Bees. a year or so later, though, some kids at a nearby village saw some bees going in and out of a small hole in a tree and threw some rocks at it.  Apparently the tree was hollow, and rather full. The bees boiled out of the tree and attacked the kids and whatever else was nearby.  Adults pulled the kids to safety, and after a hospital stay they recovered.  A donkey tied nearby was killed.  I'm thinking either my friend was more knowledgeable than I gave him credit for, or else we just got lucky.

Anyhow, that might explain why I just got into beekeeping two years ago.  :)

Cheers all.
Grid.
« Last Edit: March 02, 2010, 11:57:46 pm by Grid »

Offline Bee Happy

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Re: Beekeeper by race
« Reply #28 on: March 03, 2010, 01:20:28 am »
I think the original poster did have a decent idea, just to get a grip on demographics, but it does have the problem of bringing politics and race relations into the forum.

Hey, I like this place.  I've already gone through about 80 pages of threads on general beekeeping and am picking up scads of knowledge for when I start my hives.

I would not like to leave this forum if it becomes political.

I would suggest that (even though this forum isn't for that) that the best way to improve 'race relations' would be to speak with honesty and respect about 'race issues' (I do think America has some kind of race-wierdness going on but only because people keep ripping the wounds open)
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Offline Michael Bush

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Re: Beekeeper by race
« Reply #29 on: March 03, 2010, 02:26:49 am »
Well, I'm all mixed up as are most of us, but my culture and my religion are American Indian.  I'm surprised to see so many Native Americans in the count but I do meet a few in beekeeping. 

I think people have gotten too sensitive about "race".  If you mean something respectfully, it should be taken that way.  If you don't seem to mean it respectfully, it should be ignored as being ignorant and not worthy of comment.  Everyone taking up offense for everyone else just makes for more offended people...
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Offline tom

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Re: Beekeeper by race
« Reply #30 on: March 03, 2010, 02:47:27 am »
Howd all i am of the black race and i have indian in me also an do no find this post bad i think it is good i did find ou that alot of people do get a bit touchy about the race thing but we are only human. I joined a cub in another county  and boy the looks i got when i walked in it was kind os nerve racking but i went to a couple of meetings  but then the old word came out o some of the older guys and it hurt m feelings so i left. They would send e-mails and flyers to all members but not me so i started my own bee association formy county and had a great tun out. I am not mad with this club and alot o thier members come to my club meetings  it's life i love bees and and thats what we are on this forum for we love doing this.


THOMAS

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Re: Beekeeper by race
« Reply #31 on: March 03, 2010, 12:28:19 pm »
there ya go  :-D
Someone really ought to tell them that the world of Ayn Rand?s novel was not meant to be aspirational.

Offline johnnybigfish

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Re: Beekeeper by race
« Reply #32 on: March 03, 2010, 09:09:59 pm »
This is interesting to say the least...
But, all that comes to mind is that movie with Dakota Fanning in it.."The secret life of bees"...Yall remember that?...and the two sisters what kept the bees were black women.( actually, there were 3 sisters)
That was a good movie!

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john

 

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