Just last night I was in a discussion with a racially mixed group of middle and upper middle class folks at, of all places, a tennis club. The discussion got around to my series of novels and I asked everyone, regardless of color, "If offered the opportunity to leave everything earthly behind, would they join a colony on the moon and never be in contact with earth again?"

Several people said that given their lives at that moment, it would be a temptation to join. Of the three black folks in the discussion, one said she would not because of her close ties to her family, the other two men said they would jump at the chance.

One white guy in his mid fifties said he'd go as long as being the only white in the colony didn't make him the subject of unrelenting prejudice.

Again, believe it or not, the majority of the whites just couldn't wrap their heads around anyone black being so unhappy with life here that they'd abandon earth for a risky, great unknown.

What I would like to ask here is, what would be your decision were you offered the opportunity to leave earth for a life off-planet, leaving everything behind? That means no contact with anyone in your past, no visiting earth for any reason whatsoever.

Would you make the choice to secretly leave earth to live in a technologically advanced colony populated only by black folks?

Please, let me know what you think...