I tried to find something too and couldn't. I thought, well, I'll just solve this once and for all and at least find the source. But couldn't. My theory is that it is sort of like if anti-child-abuse people were thinking to themselves, "Lots of kids get hit with belts when they are young as punishment. Really, wouldn't it be better not to have that connection brought up each time they see a belt. Maybe people shouldn't wear belts anymore. Or not call them belts." My point, I guess, is that it seems like a loose association. Maybe I am wrong. But if it is a clear association, beyond the fact that brown bags have been used to refer to/match up/measure skin tone, and there is the idea that lighter is better which is related to all of this, it is hard to find by searching scholarly articles or the internet. Anyway, interesting discussion. Sort of. Although you just wonder how much collective energy over the years has gone into these sorts of discussions. Maybe it is mean to say, but this seems like a very common sense issue to me. But maybe I over estimate common sense. Or my common sense is culturally constructed. Or something. Anyway, time to stop writing. Sometimes I just keep rambling. For too long....
I just hope if it's a real connection, someone brings that up. And I thought of a scholar who might know...providing I can find her email address.
Here's a small but important point to consider:
It would appear that the original phrase that was changed (but not banned, we're assured) was "Brown Bag Conversation" rather than "Brown Bag Lunch." For the speaker, who was familiar with the concept and practice of the "brown bag test", a "Brown Bag Conversation" might be construed as a conversation about the brown bag test issue (rather than a conversation that was to take place in the context of "bring your own lunch" gathering). From this perspective, it made sense to change the name of the event.
See http://www.peacebang.com/2007/05...h/#comment-
4301.
Does anyone know who the speaker was?
You've shed some light as I can google "brown bag test" and find some scholarship (but also an article about "brown bag" test being part of folklore).
I'm pretty sure this is the part of the game where I realize I'm woefully ignorant.
If you Google "brown paper bag party" or "paper bag party", you'll find a number of first-hand accounts of such events that are clearly not just folklore.
My guess is that the SKSM speaker conflated the terms "brown bag conversation" and "brown bag party." So, for him, a "brown bag conversation" sounded like a conversation that only welcomed only individuals of a certain skin color (as was the case at "brown bag parties").
To be certain, this reference is obscure to many of us (especially those of us who are white), but clearly had some personal significance to this individual.
I appreciate this dialogue, Jim.
Okay, I did google those phrases and find this article that references Gates at Harvard.
I guess what I was hoping to find is something that talks about "brown bag" as an issue of language prejudice (and colorism, it seems) more than an issue of existence.
I think it's worth noting that I found brown bag lunches at the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American research and the topic does not seem to be about "brown bags" as tools of colorism or racism. It seems to be about lunch.
No, I don't think you're going to find anything that refers to "brown bags" at tools of racism/colorism.
And, who knows, maybe the speaker in question was just messing with Rebecca Parker's head when he asked her to change the name of the event. But she chose to take his request seriously and made an announcement to that effect.
It seems that her announcement was interpreted (or misinterpreted?) by some as a proclamation that the term "brown bag lunch" was racist and use of the phrase should cease forthwith.
And now we're in a situation you aptly described, with one group using this incident as an example of the crazed PC folks running amok, while the crazed PC folks maintain that they were just trying to be sensitive about the use of a phrase that was apparently offensive (or in some other way objectionable) to someone.
Yeah, Jim, and the truth is that everyone is trying to do the right thing and no one really wants to offend anyone else.
I'm glad that you (Ms. Theologian) are trying to locate actual information that confirms the racist (possibly) beginnings of anything with "brown bag" in it. I do like the fact that at the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute used the phrase as is typically used in every day life. 
Sometimes I wonder if people like myself (middle class white) spend so much time worrying about words and phrases that we do little else to bring about change. If I avoid the term "brown bag lunch" I've just countered racism. Seem pretty limited to me in terms of real world effects.
Good post!
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