Why did we hang around Massachusetts for three weeks after selling our house? To attend Pinewoods Camp, and here we are. We hadn’t been to a Pinewoods session longer than a weekend since I was pregnant with our now 24-year-old son, and being here feels like seeing an old friend again after a long absence.

My husband and I met at a contra dance at the Concord Scout House, and have been enthusiastic members of the folk community for most of our adult lives. People in this community are connected by a set of beliefs that they hold open-heartedly and publicly: a profound opposition to war; faith in the fundamental humanity of every individual; and an irrepressible optimism about being alive. They are friendly, involved, willing to try new stuff in public, sharers, willing to act silly, supportive, willing to pitch in, nostalgic, willing to express sentiment, kind, and fun. They aren’t sappy, though: their wit is sardonic, drinking happens, a lot of the songs are bawdy, and night swimming is suit-optional.

Though we dabble in other traditions, our particular folk community is primary focused on English, Canadian, and American folk traditions brought from Europe or evolved from music brought from Europe. The Old Country–mostly England, Scotland, and Ireland–dominates, with Appalachian, bluegrass, Cajun, and Anglo- and French-Canadian close behind, including songs from every historic era in both North America and the regions that now comprise the UK.

That is to say, this great group of people is mostly white. Not all, but primarily, and more so than any other group in which we are involved–my husband’s work colleagues, our (Brookline) neighborhood, our kids’ public school students and staff, my extended family. There’s nothing wrong with being white, but this level of whiteness feels strikingly odd in 2016. For the most part, it seems that people of color just aren’t drawn to square dancing, or Morris dancing, or English drinking songs, or songs of Atlantic Canada, or Bothy ballads, or Appalachian clog dancing.

We have wide representation among people of all ages, the LGBT community, the differently abled, citizens of red, blue, and purple states, non-English speakers, and most of the white religions. But we do not have racial diversity. This is painful and mysterious to many of us.