I say that anyone claiming to have been called a racist for liking english music is in fact a liar

Royston, You're not only calling Ged a troll, you're also accusing him of lying. I think that's unfair. Just because you've been lucky enough to have never had that experience doesn't mean it hasn't happened. Trust me, there are some dogmatic, misguided and very stupid people on the left as well as some of the nicest people you'll ever meet. Personally, I'm politically a respectable distance left of centre, as are many of my friends. Over the years I've been involved in anti-racist and anti-fascist and anti-deportation campaigns. And over the years, I've heard some right old claptrap about English folk music, from supposedly intelligent people who should know better. And that includes insinuations that the music, dance and traditions are somehow nationalistic in a excluding and offensive way because they are English. Such crap is usually spouted by people whose main agenda is either point scoring, arguing for argument's sake or justifying their own deep seated aversion to folk music. In some cases it is based on a false conflation of ordinary English culture and the entire history of British imperialism. People who say or imply that folk music is somehow racist or nationalistic per se are the ones who are playing into the hands of the far right, not someone like Ged who is clearly genuinely shocked at being told such nonsense about English folk music. My rule of thumb is that if I hear statements like this I'll challenge the silly arse whose said it rather than pretend it wasn't said. Like my daft mate who constructed an entire theory about why lefties should only listen to music of black origin, regardless of there own actual musical taste, as an anti-imperialist gesture. Luckily everyone agreed he was being a bit of a dick!

Now I must get back to listening to my CD of west African psychedelia from the early seventies...

Back on topic, I don't think most Morris dancers are making any kind of link with race when they black up (which is not the same as saying that there are no racist Morris dancers, which I bet there are, unfortunately) but with the earlier traditions around begging disguises and so on. Yet surely it's not that difficult to see how people outside of the minority sport that is Morris might associate blacking up with blackface minstrelry and the connotations that that has? It's not that that hard to choose a non-human colour and avoid possible ambiguity. Doing so wouldn't harm Morris in the least. It might even help because it'll take away one of the sticks used to beat Morris with...