[AngelesCrestHighway]

Once a month at lunch in our junior high gym we listened to rock and roll and danced...How racist could it get?

[Steve_Seattle]

When I was a kid - a white kid in an all white neighborhood - my heroes included Hank Aaron, Elgin Baylor, Sam Cooke, and Fats Domino, along with whites like Elvis, Dion, and Jerry Lee Lewis.

Later on, I was introduced to bluesmen like Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, Ray Charles, and Howlin' Wolf. My favorite band was The Animals, heavily influenced by black music. Race was never an issue, and it enrages me that I'm told I'm a racist because I'm a conservative.