Well, there are some concepts I'm trying to put my fingers on here.

When I read the original post on this thread, I get a sense in my own mind that what seems to be missing is the concept of "folk clubs." It seems when I read a lot of the UK posts, there are mentions of folk clubs.

In the states, you have music on the Internet, and you might have "music nights" or "acoustic nights" in some cafes, but that makes some music hard to find.

The states have a large geographical area with many suburbs. So, very much in general, the place you're likely to find specific folk clubs and organizations is in the bigger cities.

That's my take on it, anyway.

Also, I think that certain kinds of music "speak" to different people in very personal ways. I wouldn't deem that "racism"; simply personal preference. At least for me, certain types of music cause me to have a very emotional response. I like all kinds of music, but there are certain types that are truly my passion. I'm sure that's true of many people.

Teresa