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A call to the Black Guys

Isn't the US population currently, or very near to 50% minority? That would mean that half of all herpers are some type of minority. living in Texas, I see many more Hispanics at shows than would be seen in other states, but I do not even know if it is half of the attendees (never paid close enough attention), and very rarely have a seen a black person at a show. Like Kathy said, I see more Orientals than blacks.

I think it has to do with culture, not necessarily religion. I know many Christians and non Christians with reptiles, but very few minorities.
 
airenlow said:
I would think that the percentage of black people in Columbus is much higher than the national average (or at least the regional average)...so there "should" be more at the show. I can only recall one black guy that was walking around with a 3 foot gator. I'm glad a more diverse group is involved in your area, Chris!
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Well, here's a kicker of a conundrum...

Anaheim certainly has a higher percentage of black and Asian residents than the national average would allow. And yes, there is a very noticeable representation of blacks and Asians at the Anaheim shows I've attended.

But the interesting thing to note is that Anaheim seems to actually have a majority of Hispanics as it's populace. This may be a false observation, as I've never read any population figures for the area, but the numbers are close enough that one would have no trouble believing that the population of Anaheim is fairly evenly split between Hispanic and Caucasian. There is a VERY small representation of Hispanics at the shows I've attended. Of course, Hispanics can be more difficult to distinguish visually from caucasian, and this could account for some margin of error. But I would have expected to see MANY more Hispanics in attendance than I have.

I'm gonna have to pay closer attention this year, rather than relying on possibly biased and inaccurate observatory reflections...
 
snakewispera snr said:
Joel has a very mixed bag of friends, I guess that comes from living in a city....
I caught Joel being racist with his jokes once.... I went to chastise him for it, then found out they were all comparing racist jokes with each other....
They asked me to judge who had the best racist jokes..... I was very uncomfortable with the situation.....
They took it all in their stride.... I guess it comes down to how you were brought up and how much venom there is in your statements/jokes etc.....
And whether the humour is cruel or observational.....
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Mike I wonder if that isn't a difference with his generation. You and I are old enough to remember when it was acceptable to discriminate openly. Our kids have grown up in a world were that is unacceptable. My kids think nothing of it and seem to take people as they come.
 
In my experience, Black people as a whole hate snakes. When I was trapping and would get a snake call from a black family it was as if they found radioactive waste in their home, whereas when I'd get called out to a white family it was a more relaxed situation and wouldn't act as if it was out of the ordinary.

On another note, if you want a snake to live DO NOT leave it around hispanics. Lets put it this way, the first time I had Rattlesnake, it was cooked by our migrant workers. I work as the Wildlife Manager on our farm and about once a week I have to deal with removing a snake, it took me a few years to finally get where the crew would call me out to remove it instead of just killing it where it lay.
 
I don't think it is really proportional to the demographics of the area in question..

We go to all of the NARBC shows, and many of the Repticon and other shows, too. I have been to shows in Chicago, Anaheim, Philadelphia, and lots of other big cities, and all over Florida. Even if the shows are in some part of the city that has few minorities, I think they would come to the show if they had any serious (or even semi serious) interest. The NARBC shows draw people even from out of state.

Because I have always been interested in other cultures (we have had lots of foreign exchange students back in the '90s, from all over the world), I make it a point to talk to people at shows who either "look different" or "talk differently" from your "typical 16 - 50 year old, middle class, white herper" (that would describe MOST of my customers). I am always curious to find out what their interest is, if I am not too busy at the show to just have some conversation. And curious as to what country they are from, if they have an accent. Unfortunately for our hobby, MOST of the minorities attending turn out to be either employees of the facility on their break, or (actually, fairly commonly) one black member of a white family that dragged him or her along with them for a day at the "reptile zoo". I have met a few with a real interest, but very few.

I guess if we do meet any black or Hispanic herpers, we should try to get them to get others involved. I think it would be helpful to our industry / hobby to have as much diversity as possible. But I believe it is somewhat of an uphill battle. As Janine said, different cultures have a different outlook on the place of pets, and the type of pets, that are suitable for their families. But with the exposure of Internet, TV, and people going into schools with herps, that could change for the next generation.
 
Butch said:
On another note, if you want a snake to live DO NOT leave it around hispanics.
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Well, except for Hector!! Or Culebra. Just to name the first two that came to mind! Especially Hector...Or, what's that kid's name from Mexico City, with the pretty black and white Cali King...Bataco!
 
crackerhead said:
On the other end of the spectrum, shows in the Chicago area have an overwhelming preponderance of tattooed individuals, biker babes and Goth dressers. Is that a fair representation of the industry? LOL

Terri
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Sounds exactly like any Repticon in Florida!
 
wade said:
Mike I wonder if that isn't a difference with his generation. You and I are old enough to remember when it was acceptable to discriminate openly. Our kids have grown up in a world were that is unacceptable. My kids think nothing of it and seem to take people as they come.
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I think you hit the nail on the head... I remember racist sit coms we all laughed openly at.... Today it would mean a law suit..


So I guess it's in the back of my mind to be PC....
 
I had forgotten about Bataco. Wonder what happened to him.

For me at least it isn't cultural. The black people I know are no more African than I am Scottish. We're all just Utahans. It is an interesting question.
 
wade said:
I had forgotten about Bataco. Wonder what happened to him.
.
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I don't know. He was here in February. I wished him Happy Birthday in March and never heard back. I think I checked in with him when all that H1N1 was going on down there.
 
I don't mean African culture...

I mean whatever culture the last several generations have made for a particular group of people in a particular place, based both on their heritage, and the conditions they have adapted to in the past century or so.

When I worked in a small, inland Florida city at a small hospital back in the '80s, I got to know some of the black aides and nurses better than I had ever known any blacks before. Most of them were great people! But their culture, religious practices, ideas about animals, work, friends, and a lot of other things, were very different than what I grew up with in Wisconsin. Their ways of doing things and looking at the world were more alien to mine than were many of the foreign exchange students we would later host. We usually got along great, but it took the same kinds of adjustments required to get along with our exchange students.

I do think that our mobile society encourages a lot more mixing of these local cultures into the mainstream, as does technology, etc, as mentioned before. In the future, we will probably see more dilution of such cultures as future generations are assimilated into the general population. Resistance is futile, lol!
 
wade said:
I had forgotten about Bataco. Wonder what happened to him.

For me at least it isn't cultural. The black people I know are no more African than I am Scottish. We're all just Utahans. It is an interesting question.
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That's a point I regularly make in racist debates...
Mike's Jimi Hendrix theory.. I know another barmy Mike's theory... LOL
But ask anyone who Jimi Hendrix's is and they will reply. 'Probably the greatest most innovative guitarist... Ever'....
I've never heard anyone say.... 'That black dude'...
 
...You and I are old enough to remember when it was acceptable to discriminate openly. Our kids have grown up in a world were that is unacceptable. My kids think nothing of it and seem to take people as they come.

I think (and hope) that is true. It is really difficult to change deeply set prejudices and beliefs of adults, even if those adults LOGICALLY BELIEVE that their old prejudices are not worthwhile anymore. Deeply held feelings about races, cultures, other religions, gays, and proper use and care of animals go much deeper than logic.

But if those adults allow their children to be exposed at an early age to more open minded reasoning, they will grow up with tolerance, or even enjoyment, of new ideas and friendships. And they will naturally instill those values in THEIR kids. That is the only real way for lasting change.

And that is why it is SO IMPORTANT for parents to carefully monitor what is allowed to be poured into the malleable little minds of the next generation. If they are fed love, tolerance, individual responsibility, etc, then that is what they will teach the next generation. But if we allow them to be exposed to hate, violence, humaniac agendas, big government dependence, etc, then that is what we will reap. Parents have a HUGE role in shaping ALL future generations!
 
wade said:
I had forgotten about Bataco. Wonder what happened to him.

For me at least it isn't cultural. The black people I know are no more African than I am Scottish. We're all just Utahans. It is an interesting question.
Click to expand...

I've been thinking the same thing. At least here in the US, most of our minorities aren't recent immigrants. Sure, we have plenty of legal and illegal immigrants in this country. But the vast majority of our minority populations are at least a few generations of Natural Citizenship.

We're all Americans, culturally speaking...
 
Well

I think its alot on how people were brought up.I was raised in in big city and my mom, took my brother,sister and I to different states every year for vacation.One place was Wisconsin,where we all stayed in a cabin right on a lake.I used to walk around the lake shore searching for reptiles.This happened from the time I was a baby till about 17 or 18.My grandfather raised parrots and we had alot of pets.So I have been around them my whole life.
Maybe others never had the chance to see any,or were ever interested in nature. I had one black friend,probably one of the few friends, I would consider a true friend.He wasnt into any animals really,he did know other blacks that had dogs,but they were mostly ones that had pitbulls that they used in dog fighting...:(
A few of them had dogs they used as guard dogs,none of them kept any reptiles.
 
Janine, I think your custom user title should be 'Eccentric Englishwoman'. Priceless.
I don't know any black person in Baton Rouge that keeps snakes. But that doesn't mean there isn't. I know there are several black people on this forum and RG. But I have only discovered that incidentally.
I've had black schoolmates, co-workers, teachers, good friends, employees, and colleagues,...and I don't remember ever walking on eggshells. But I think the deep south, especially in cities, has a more nearly equal distribution. With people I deal with, it is not acceptable to be disparaging to any minority, even if they are not present. My parents did a good job in raising me not to be prejudiced against 'different' people in general, and not particularly actively aware of race. I think they were very modern and decent in that respect.
I know there are cultural differences, but many of my guys over the years are some of the best people I know. There are several colleagues around town who are black, and I feel very close to them. I've noticed it is often very easy to feel at ease around black people.
Nothing can turn a bad day around than a nice black lady calling you "baby". How do they do that? It's like magic.
 
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