katlaughing and others,

I'm not trying to excuse the fact that in the past and probably in the present there are times that some Black people weren't {aren't} open and welcoming to the attendance and participation of White people at our [Black people's] commemorative and/or celebratory events.* However, it should be noted that there may have been {may be} other conscious/unconcious reasons for this fact besides straight up racism. Among those reasons may be:

1. Direct knowledge of and/or indirect knowledge of White people co-opting Black culture [sayings, songs, dances, fashion styles, customs etc] and not giving Black people the credit for these indices of Black culture. Given this historical and present day fact, some Black people may take umbrage at the fact that White people [in my opinion, correctly] consider the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr to be theirs just as much as it is Black peoples.

2. Some African Americans were/are uncomfortable around White people and do not feel that they can not be {act like} themselves if there are White people in attendance. Therefore, these African Americans felt/feel that having White people in attendance "spoils" the event [i.e. makes it less authentic because they are unable to act authentically]

3. Point #1 is reinforced by direct experience or second/third hand experiences with some White people who expected/expect to be treated better than a "regular" person in attendance at these events {ie they expected/expect to be lauded over, given the best seats up front, publicly recognized by the pastor, or master of ceremony etc}   

4. Black people have {have had} direct experience or know of other Black people who have experienced {experience} White people who are {were} patronizing toward them. This speaks to the overarching, deep rootedness of racial prejudice in America, because the White person may not actually have been patronising, and/or the White person may not have consciously known that they were being patronising.

5. Related to point #4, in their attempts to prove that they aren't prejudiced, some White people act/have acted inauthentically toward Black people. For example they are/were overly friendly and praising toward Black people, or tried to act too hip, or what they think is "Black" {which is a racist statement in and of itself}. This is related to the "Some of my best friends are Black" statement, a statement that-even if it is true- should never be uttered in interracial settings.

6. Black people may have direct experiences with or knowledge of others experiences with White people who tried/tried to take over the planning of interracial events {because of these White people's prejudiced belief that they know better than us [Black people] and/or that they are naturally better at planning than we [Black people] are.

7. In activist movements, direct experiences or knowledge of others' experiences with White people who joined/join organizations as spies for the opposition {ie establishment}, and who attended/attend planning meetings and gave/give information about those plans to their White parents and associates who then worked against those plans, thus reinforcing the {admittedly racist, untrue and sometimes counterproductive} notion that "White people can't be trusted".

-snip-

*Some Latino/a and Native American peoples may also share these same {conscious/unconscious} attitudes and concerns about White people's attendance at "their" events.

I am definitely not saying that I approve of racially segregated events-including Martin Luther King, Jr day orKwanzaa.
I am saying that people should try to be open to understanding what might be motivating Black people and other people of color who disapprove of White attendance at these types of events.

-snip-

With regard to katlaughing's comment that some Black people are homophobic, it is true that some African Americans have personal and collective work to do in order to eradicate their negative attitudes toward homophobia. These attitudes are reflected in how African American and non-African American gays, lesbians, and transgendered individuals are treated in Black churches, and in other parts of African American society. For these reasons, I'm glad that in his January 20, 2008 speech at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's church Barack Obama directly referred to the need for Black people to eradicate homophobia   

-snip-

Regarding katlaughing's use in her post of the abbreviation, "AMEC": in the Eastern region of the USA, this is usually written "AME", for instance Bethel AME Church. AME {African Methodist Episcopal} is a Christian religious denomination. AMEC probably means "Africam Methodist Episcopal Church".

Another African American religious denomination with a similar name and history is AMEZ {African Methodist Episocopal Zion}.

Note:
I hope that I don't come across as being patronizing. I'm sharing that explanation about AME ecause this is an international forum with few publicly acknowledged African Americans who post here. Because of this forum's demographics, I believe that there may be people reading this thread who didn't know what the abbreviation AME means.

I also feel the need to say that because of this forum's demographics, I believe that it's important to share my insights about Black people/ "Black" issues as I've done in this post and elsewere on this forum. This is not to say that there aren't now or haven't been in the past any other African Americans posting on Mudcat. However, it appears that those African Americans who have/do post here, don't publicly acknowledge their racial/ethnic identity.

I choose to refer to my racial identity in my Mudcat posts when I think it is pertinent to the topic being discussed. This includes some of my posts about my main folk interest-children's rhymes. In my opinion, when collecting and studying children's rhymes, racial/ethnic demographics should be collected and considered just like other indices such as gender, age, and geographical location...

For what it's worth, I'm trying to carefully walk a tightrope between speaking for myself [which is what I want to do] and being seen as this forum's [to date?] only African American spokesperson [which others may erroneously conclude from my posts].

But enough of my focus on me-Happy Martin Luther King Day to all!