White men loves them the blues

I have a real problem with old white men.
Now, that's not surprising given old white men cause most of the problems in the world but I'm speaking specifically of the old white man's love for the genre of music known as Blues.
Blues music evolved in the south, from the poorest people in the poorest areas of the country, who also happened to be black. The stories they tell are of poverty, oppression, and are the logical evolution of spirituals, which slaves used to carry their traditions without their owners knowledge. Characteristic of both genres is the theme of hope, that things will get better.
Blues records began coming out in the 20s and never achieved any real success outside of regional or ethnographic interests until the 60s when collectors in the UK began seeing them as important artifacts of a unique musical movement. This eventually led to folks such as Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page discovering, imitating and ultimately creating a significant slice of Rock and Roll.
Obviously the success of this blues based white music led to the success of the blues artists themselves, and while there is no black blues artist that can claim the successes that his white imitators can, there is a significant healthy market for these guys(and gals). Austin is home to one of the most successful blues clubs in the country, Antone's, opened by a rabid blues fan which supported and grew the careers of countless so called authentic blues artists.
Now, where is the problem here you ask?
My problem with this whole thing is the fact that damn near every face in these clubs is white, coming to witness the authentic black musician sing about authentic black problems.
Which begs the next obvious question...why don't black folks like the blues anymore?
I think I can sum it up with a paraphrase from Bill Hicks regarding crucifixes. "Do you think if Jesus returned he'd want to see any more crosses?"
That is why I think the blues is a dead genre which was abandoned by the black community and has been successfully supplanted by Rap etc. Blues doesn't deal with the problems of today, it's a romantic sclerotic relic of what was once a vital outlet of suffering and sorrow.
At the end of it all I guess I should laugh at all these 'cats' shifting their hardly earned dollars to those black artists, perhaps they are getting the last laugh after all.