During a visit to Madison’s Juneteenth celebration on Saturday, I was left wondering, once again, where all the white people were, at least the ones like me.

Juneteenth is the celebration of African American emancipation from slavery, marked on the day when Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation was finally enforced in Texas. It’s evolved in recent years to be a celebration of black life and history.

Juneteenth contrasts with Martin Luther King day in a few important ways: most Juneteenth celebrations are homegrown, and don’t take place with mayors and congressmen trying to look good. And for reasons probably more to do with summertime (vs. January’s MLK day), Juneteenth celebrations are a lot more fun.

Back to my question. There were indeed, as always, plenty of white people present; at least two percent, which in a big crowd, amounts to a decent number. But in a city with 85% white people, the disbalance still sticks out. The white people at Juneteenth generally fall into three categories: those somehow related to black people (spouses etc.); those left-leaning elite-ish types who fancy “solidarity”; and those with something to sell, like Obama t-shirts.

Notably absent are middle class white families, despite this being a terrific family event. I can only guess at why: people don’t think the celebration is for them; and most importantly, they don’t know anyone there. So it may be nothing more (or perhaps nothing less) than a segregation problem.

In recent years, evangelicals have begun reasserting their role in abolition, loudly talking about William Wilberforce and similar. So why not come and join in the fun? Well, perhaps folk don’t feel that the resolution of a moral evil is worth celebrating; that celebration seems somehow wrong next to all that suffering.

One of the best lessons I’ve learned during my decade-plus in a largely African-American church is the skill of celebrating in the midst of everything else being rough. Joy is an act of the will, and I don’t think I was taught much intentionality in joy while growing up in White Baptist circles.

And so, few white Christians come out to celebrate Juneteenth. The solution, I imagine, would be more interracial church socializing, and a mindset shift among white Christians that interracial anything is anything more than a downer. Come out and celebrate! Have some pie, enjoy some music, and celebrate life!