Four suggestions respectfully offered to those working toward full equality for all humanity.

1. There are no valid divisions within the human race. Those who create or perpetuate them regardless of the reason are on the wrong side.
Every human being is an individual who is unique. There is no “way Black people act” or “way White people act”. There is no “way Black people think” or “way White people think”. Even using the word “most” is very dangerous unless you have really reliable research or polling information. It is far better to say “some” or “a number of those I have met”. I strongly urge working from shared needs and goals that all humans have in common and building on those as opposed to dividing by race, gender, sexual orientation, etc and pointing out generalized flaws which do not apply to all people in any group.

2. If you want others to “understand” you, you must “understand” them.
Behaviors and attitudes exist for a reason. Generally, self-preservation and well-being are the original basis of behaviors and attitudes, no matter how inappropriate they may be at the present. Change occurs based on personal experience and decisions not the passage of laws. There are Black people who distrust and dislike White people because they were taught to do so and have not learned to do any differently. There are White people who distrust and dislike Black people because they were taught to do so and have not learned to do any differently. Yes, “by now they should have” but they have not. Only interaction and personal reason to change will make a difference. So, I urge folks to work to “understand” each other while making it clear that “understanding” does not mean condoning bad behavior or inappropriate attitudes.

3. You must consider your own “special circumstances” if you want others to do so.
Back in the early 1970’s, I first learned about the intense, faith-based homophobia in the African American community as a whole and the church in particular. My friend was the son of one of the 12 Presiding Bishops of the Church of God in Christ and was married to the daughter of a major civil rights leader in North Carolina. He was “bisexual” at the time but later divorced and came out. If Black LGBT citizens want the LGBT community to understand and consider the historic homophobia in the African American community and its impact on the ability of so many LGBT folks to be out and open, they need to factor that truth into their expectations of the LGBT community. Specifically, accusations that the small number of Blacks in LGBT Leadership positions results solely from racism are neither accurate nor fair. One cannot be a leader if one is unwilling to be named and photographed for any and all to see. Over the years, there have been African American LGBT leaders. I know them because one was my former partner and many have been my friends. There can be and should be more. Increasing those numbers will depend upon African Americans joining and publicly participating in LGBT action as well as upon all LGBT folks electing them. (BTW This does not excuse current LGBT leaders for failing to be “culturally competent” in their thinking, planning or action!!)

4. You can’t be “included” if you are unapproachable or exclude yourself.
In all aspects of my life, I have made a daily effort to “reach out” and “cross-over” as a means of knowing and including others in my life. When I have done so, I have been welcomed in most cases. That is how an individual translates law into reality. For that reason, I find much of the discussion about “Black this” and “White that” very alien to my reality. Living in the District of Columbia for nearly 32 years also makes a difference in my perception. My “bar” and “club” days are pretty much a thing of the past. However, I have found the most likely form of “exclusion” today is online in “brothers4brothersonly” groups and in “Black bars” where Whites without a “Black escort” are not exactly welcome or at least treated with suspicion. My description is based mostly on observation because I usually went with friends. While I understand why some folks like these “safe havens”, I find them a throw-back to “Whites only” places that I fought to eliminate decades ago.

Returning to my personal experience, I have worked with such diverse and wonderful human beings who have been able to maintain their individual uniqueness and yet come together with others to build a better place and advance the common good. Much has been achieved and much remains to be done. I urge people to learn about and value the past while forging ahead in new and even more effective ways. We cannot afford to devalue or ignore each other. To do so will only harm us as individuals, as a community and as a nation.

I hope my comments help bring people together because that is my intended purpose.

Mark Fischer
Washington, DC

The 1964 Mississippi civil rights workers murders of James Chaney, a 21-year-old black man from Meridian, Mississippi; Andrew Goodman, a 20-year-old white Jewish anthropology student from New York; and Michael Schwerner, a 24-year-old white Jewish CORE organizer and former social worker also from New York, symbolized the risks of participating in the Civil Rights Movement in the South during what became known as "Freedom Summer", dedicated to voter registration. The case also symbolized the extensive participation of Jewish-Americans during the Civil Rights era working in concert with African-Americans.

"The marvelous new militancy that has engulfed the negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers as evidenced by their presence here today have come to realized that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone." Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“When it comes to non-blacks who have contributed greatly to the African-American struggle for freedom and equality, the contributions of abolitionists William Lloyd Garrison, John Brown, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Levi Coffin, sometimes called "the president of the Underground Railroad", are often recognized. Last year, the nation revisited Abraham Lincoln's legacy during the bicentennial celebration of his birth. Still, there were others from that era and beyond who were no less dedicated but remain largely unacknowledged. Many of them are found here.”
Slideshow: White Americans who made black history http://www.thegrio.com/black-history/slideshow-wh...

As one who “came of age” in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, I lived through the assassinations of Dr. King and Robert Kennedy, the civil rights struggles, the Vietnam War, the birth of the women’s liberation and gay rights movements and much more. More significantly, for over 40 years I’ve been more than an observer. I have been an active fighter for equal human rights for all. AS a result, I know that the civil rights movement was the product of cross-racial cooperation, risk and effort.

The Supreme Court Decisions of the 1950’s and the Civil Rights laws of the 1960’s ended at least two forms of discrimination . . . “segregation” against Blacks and “restriction” against Jews. Many have no idea that “restricted” facilities banned Jews from social facilities, accommodations, housing and other places as well as barring them from educational institutions and employment. The “Borscht Belt” was the Jewish equivalent of the “Chittlin Circuit” for Blacks.

I read both “Why Black People Don’t Like It When White Gays Co-opt the Black Civil Rights Movement” and “5 Things The LGBT Community Can Learn From The Black Civil Rights Movement”. I understand feelings underlying the remarks and, for the most part, share irritation and annoyance expressed by the author and persons quoted. Yet I must point out that the Civil Rights movement was not exclusively a “Black” phenomenon in terms of its participants or its beneficiaries. If we lose sight of that, we do a disservice to Dr. King and lose a major element of the progress made . . . including the legitimate links it offers to fully equal human rights for all. That connection was reflected in the words of Coretta Scott King, Reverend Joseph Lowery, Maya Angelou and Andrew Young.

So, while the attempts of some bloggers to connect the civil rights movement and the gay rights movement are inept and flawed in their specifics, the importance of recognizing the greater unifying element that they are both part of a global quest for equal human rights for all . . . To ensure that none of God’s creations are denied his/her God-given rights base on the way the Creator of the Universe made them.

For those reasons, I have serious concerns about parts of the two commentaries and the implicit “we-they” perspective referencing race that leads to many of the feelings described. I suggest that the source of the divide is a much generational as it is racial. I am offend when people of the “younger generations” fail to understand either or both the civil rights’ and gay rights’ struggle and progress from the 1980’s and earlier. When it comes to a lack of personal experience and understanding or an accurate recall of history, my experience has shown that race does not inoculate anyone against ignorance.

I cannot tell you how many times I have been attacked online by young African American “warriors” who clearly believe “if your skin is White, you are the problem.” They neither know nor appreciate the cooperation between people of various races that fueled the civil rights movement. Considering people based upon the “content of their character, not the color of their skin” is a goal and a challenge all human beings must work daily to achieve. So, I could write a piece “Why White People Don’t Like It When (Young) Blacks Delete Whites from the Civil Rights Movement”.

End Part 1 of 2 … continued ….