I grew up in a small southern town with a large black population. My fathers work in civil rights meant that I spent a good portion of my time eating in the "black section of town" as a guest.

This menu is pretty much exactly what we ate, with the discussion over the table almost always having some mention of Kings legacy.

For me at least its a perfect way to honor the day.

That is for me though. The question is was the broader community given a say in the decision. I certainly hope so.

I prefer this over something like Banana "I Have a Dream" Cream Pie, which comes off to me as comparably flippant and vacuous.

Would it have ameliorated possible negative connotations to actually state something like "featuring traditional soul food"?

Would it be preferable to decorate the cafeteria with images and/or quotes from MLKJr and the civil rights movement?  How would combining both that and the menu items come off?

Having been to NC recently with my wife while she was visiting relatives, I believe that this could also be stereotyped as "rural white Southern" food, too. A restaurant we went to (with a sea of white faces) had this type of menu; I believe an argument can be made that this is rural food (not just black or poor or rural white). Thus, the stereotype could be in the perception of the interpreter (although I will admit that most would associate this the way Lisa pointed out above).

[I was dragged to the aforementioned local place that serves this stuff. The fried chicken was horrible (Hardee's and Popeye's are better) and everything was stroke-inducing... but folks raved about this "stuff".]

I'm not sure I'd qualify this conundrum as a "familiar one."

What if the menu contained items that are associated with MLK's home state of Georgia?

I'm thinking of dishes made with peaches or perhaps Brunswick stew:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Georgia_(U.S._state)#Cuisine
I think it is legitimate to ask whether it is possible for something to be festive without resorting to racial sterotypes. I'm not suggesting I know the answer but if a food is strongly associated with a place (rather than a particular group of people who reside in that place) it could be the case that it is possible. However, I don't think one can say that would be the case with Indian food and Gandhi.

The only way I could see not resorting to stereotyping would be to serve his last meal and aim for historical accuracy: http://deadmaneating.blogspot.com/2003/03/india-last-meal-mahatma-gandhi-january.html

How do we know that this was not an attempt to make MLK's favorite foods rather than a generic racial stereotype? It looks to me like at least half of the food offerings were favorites of the man himself. What seems to be missing are Pecan Pie and Sweet Potatoes rather than regular mash: http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/2012/1/16/Dr-Martin-Luther-King-Jrs-Favorite-Foods-A-Guide-To-Celebrating-The-Great-Man-On-His-Birthday 

 This is not just soul food, it's southern food. It doesn't represent blacks any more than it does anyone from the south.

"That’s how racism has such staying power: it makes it such that all choices resonate with its ugliness."

Well said

I question whether or not the cafeteria really has a responsibility to mark MLK day... seriously, one would hope that someone else on campus would have organized a speaker or a film showing, and then perhaps a cafeteria meal might then be tied to it, but does the cafeteria celebrate Labour Day? What about the anniversary of the passage of the womens' suffrage amendment? I see why this could be experienced as a "racist" or at least racially stereotyping menu, and that is problematic, but am I the only commenter who got hungry reading this menu? 

Maybe soul food but without including stuff like fried chicken and watermelon, which seem to be the items most frequently used in bad racial stereotypes?

I don't see anything wrong with having MLK day food, assuming that they try to do special menus for all kinds of days.

Psht this is just southern food.  Jus as lon' as yore not inna fancy-pants eatin' estab'shment, dissis whatcher gunna git. 

Whoever wrote this article hasn't been in the south much.  Yep, only thing missing is chicken-fried bacon served with cream gravy!

No one would turn their nose up at a celebratory cake.  A big sheet cake that says some short MLK quote seems like a good way to show that the day is remembered and respected, gives students a legitimate treat, and has few racial connotations (or does it?  I read sheet cake as totally neutral but I suppose I could be wrong.)

Without the headline "Martin Luther King Day Menu" above it, this looks like good southern food. It is not out of the norm for my family (white and Hispanic) to eat these kinds of things for dinner. I think the wording of the headline is the only thing that places it in an offensive context. Perhaps they could have written "Traditional Southern Cooking to Celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr" which would have simply pointed out the fact that he was a southern man who, very likely, enjoyed southern cooking (I'm sure someone knows what his favorite foods were?).

There was a similar day a few years ago at my work, a wall street firm. Some folks, all whites, were offended.

A little more searching yielded that the cafeteria employees, almost all black, had put the menu together themselves. It was their way of contributing and honoring the day, given that they had to come to work.

Oh and rural southern food is soul food (A term not used till, well, civil rights). The primary difference between rural white food and black cuisine? Mostly spices (more pepper and lots more salt and waaaaaaaaay more sugar in the iced tea). Also quality of meat. Rural whites where still on average far wealthier than blacks. So cuts of meat in black cuisine tended to be rougher and more the ends of things (offal is the technical term I think.)

To me, the weirdest thing about it is… there's a pretty well-established method of celebration for retail outlets. It's called a SALE!
When stores want to celebrate, say, President's Day, they don't start selling "wooden" teeth (note: they weren't) and stovepipe hats. They take 20% off their prices, amirite?
So I just don't get this.

And of course, there are a million white people to put in their opinions of "but it's a GOOD association" or "but it could JUST AS EASILY be white southern food!" 

A cafeteria doesn't have the obligation to honor every single holiday, particularly ones that don't have foods associated with them.  Does this cafeteria honor Columbus Day, Arbor Day, President's Day, and so forth with food themes?  Likely not.  I've seen stuff in cafeterias for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and 4th of July, which have strong associations with specific food, but that's it.  Obviously it wasn't a mean-spirited choice, and probably even just a piddling attempt to be "inclusive," but doing it in a way that makes no sense usually ends in failure, and alienating those that you're supposed to be including.

I find the use of Papyrus offensive.

One could as easily argue that the characterization of food as "shallow" is a ugly misrepresentation of domestic labor as valueless.

At a place like UC Davis where southern food is in short supply, finding ways to introduce "exotic" foods or other cultural practices is at least a start to un-othering them, and thus the originating people.

And if you figure "you can't win" either way you might as well just do what you want.

At my caf, we do a different area each week of February: the Caribbean, Africa, Soul food, and Creole menus, places where black people had a huge impact on the way the cuisine was created.  Sure, maybe food is a shallow way to celebrate, but it's a cafeteria.  

if this menu is offensive, then so is the whole of Cracker Barrel menu.

Nevermind that these were King's favorite foods. Got to play the race card.