Ed, I can relate to your question. Every year I attend the San Francisco Folk Music Club's Camp Harmony Campout and I often look around and feel odd that I see no black faces. I'm also active in the sea shanty scene and although a lot of shanties are attributed to negroes and negro influence I almost never see a black face in the crowd.

Here are some observations:

If you are black you are constantly bombarded by rap, hip-hop, or whatever the current music trend is. Sometimes you listen to what is popular to be with the in-crowd. Now, I'm not saying that rap and hip-hop are bad but the fact is that if you don't get exposed to other forms of music you don't get to make a choice. In some circles, white folks' music is considered dorky. It's that black versus white scenario that really is ridiculous but in some ways understandable. This really is a very complicated issue. Jazz, in its beginnings, was black music. That's not the case anymore. The same could be said for rock-and-roll.

The end result, for me, is that I listen to the music I like and attend the activities that give me pleasure. These activities tend to be all-white but not because anyone is trying to keep it that way.

I deplore racism and I do hope that the situation changes as time goes on.

Radriano