(New Comment) Most Americans are ignorant if you ask me, and they never step outside of themselves to know about another culture. That ignorance makes me uncomfortable, it's true, but when you have whites excited about the African culture and wanting to persue studying it and wanting to learn about all the beautiful people that Mama Africa holds then couldn't that be celebrated amongst the black community? When I visited Guinea I felt the love inside me grow enormously for these people. What a treasure this continent holds. I have taken my studies seriously and have tried my damndest to be true to this culture. I don't pretend to be something I'm not. I was given the go ahead by my teachers in Guinea to teach in America. My thoughts have always been that I can teach beginners and get them ready for when a master teacher comes through town. How can we bring the best artists here if there is no base of community to support them? We don't have a teacher in residence in our community so I took that role. My thoughts were that it was better for me to start educating people than for there to be nothing at all.

Through teaching, I save the money I earn and use it to hire Master teachers. Whenever there is someone close who could really show these beginners what this dance is truly about, I support that teacher. My white girlfriends actually set up, advertised, supported, and drove 2 hours once a week for 3 years to bring a Senegalese teacher to our community. My husband and I take Americans to Guinea every year and hire up to 15 Africans to help support the economy there and study. We put conferences on and bring West African artists and sometimes have to pay out of pocket. We are trying with all humility to educate Americans on this beautiful West African culture. Through this work I have seen so many blessings. I have seen too many good things come out of this work to think it is the wrong path for me and my white skin. I feel like through this work I am only creating more work for the Africans. All of us want to be treated equally.

I am so sorry for the pain African Americans have gone through and still go through, I am SO SORRY. I want to see healing between blacks and whites before I die. I want to embrace my black sisters. I want to empower my black brothers. I want nothing more than for Africa and all her Glory to be honored and respected!! The time is now and only we human beings, black and white, have the power to embrace one another. Otherwise we are falling into the vile and ugly racist mentality that we are trying so hard to overcome and then the oppressors win don't they? There is so much power in drum and dance...we should use it to unify and raise one another up! It scares me to put my signature on this page to be honest. Please know I am doing it because it¹s always nice to know who's face is behind ones thoughts. I scared to confront these issues because I am scared of African American judging me for the work I do. I honestly am not trying to own this culture... I am trying my hardest be act as a bridge...to spread education and understanding....so that Africans & African Americans will be celebrated for their beauty, their art, and their minds. I really am only trying to fight the good fight towards true equality and justice for ALL.

(New Comment) after reading your cover article, i find it necessary to comment. as a long time student of dance from the african diaspora, i've noticed that an equal number of caucasian people attend the classes i attend (and i live in an area that is not culturally homogeneous, namely the san francisco bay area). this also applies to performances, workshops and other events. to me this indicates that, like it or not,the teachers/artists need to accept that their audience is not going to be exclusively people from the african diaspora, because if they excluded those people from their audience, it would not be financially feasible to teach or perform. I realize that this comment does not touch on "appropriation", but i think it is clear that if the teachers and artists want to continue to work in their fields, they will have to accept that their audience is not going to be exclusively from the African diaspora. i live in an area where there is a large asian and latino population as well, so the issue is not black and white. it's monetary.

(New Comment) ...I would also like to address the issue of ownership of African dance and drumming, which keeps popping up whenever such discussions take place. The result is that people argue over who is and isn't qualified to comment on the culture and its art forms. It is too big a subject for me to discuss properly here, but all of the teachers from Mali and Guinea that I have met hold that the dance and music belongs to everyone, just as Western and other non-African forms of music, dance and other forms of culture, technology, etc, have been adopted in West Africa. Those who know the history of the modern development of the music and dance in West Africa will remember that after independence, these countries experienced an initial resurgence of these art forms, however this was followed by a huge decline of interest, especially in the younger generations. The numbers of non-blacks coming to Africa to study these art forms are the main reason why these art forms are so alive in West Africa today. The cultural pride and appreciation has been renewed in these countries and many masters of these art forms also travel abroad to teach where there is such a great demand for it. The non-black interest in African music has been instrumental then in the survival and development of African culture. When some non-blacks take it upon themselves to instruct a black American on something to do with an aspect of West African dance or music, or some other aspect of the underlying culture, that is not necessarily to claim superior knowledge or any ownership of the culture. It continues and will continue to be called "African", therefore they have no choice but to remember and acknowledge that it is not "their" culture, although this does not exclude them from studying and sharing it with others. When an African teacher says something, both non-blacks and blacks alike will always listen and be respectful. Why not be equally respectful of one another? Probably because they have certain preconceptions as to the validity of someone else's knowledge and experience. [The writer talks about the importance of traveling to Africa] Thus an African American who has been learning the culture for 30 or 40 years through the cultural resurgence period (where there were many dance/drum classes around but still relatively few African teachers compared to now), may still have something to learn from a white American who has only been learning for 2 years but has been to West Africa twice and studied with 2 or 3 African master dancer/drummers, going to 2 or 3 classes a week and attending workshops and conferences in between. Another person may have studied West African culture at university and done their own research. The moral is, don't assume the level of another person's knowledge, not even based on their skill, and do not assume they have nothing you can learn from just because they are light skinned, non-black, less experienced or haven't been to Africa. Even if you consider yourself a 'professional' performer of the art form, you could still have something to learn from someone who has much less experience than you do. Learn from as many sources as you can, acknowledge and respect each other and this art form and its many communities will multiply and become a source of joy and inspiration for everyone. If this were to happen, perhaps racism would cease to be an issue in African dance/drum communities, and maybe even outside these communities.