White only prom returns in Georgia

Jewels · 05-01-2003, 09:35 PM

After last year’s integrated event, separate dance organized

ALBANY, Ga., May 1 — A year after holding their first integrated prom, some students at Taylor County High School have decided to again hold a separate, private party for whites only.

WHILE MANY whites say they still plan to attend next week’s integrated prom, the decision to hold the whites-only prom this Friday saddened senior Gerica McCrary, who helped organize last year’s dance.
“I cried,” said McCrary, who is black. “The black juniors said, ’Our prom is open to everyone. If you want to come, come.”’
Juniors are in charge of planning the prom each year and last year they decided to have just one dance — the first integrated prom in 31 years in the rural Georgia county 150 miles south of Atlanta.
Until then, parents and students organized separate proms for whites and blacks after school officials stopped sponsoring dances, in part because they wanted to avoid problems arising from interracial dating.
This year, a small number of white juniors decided they wanted a separate prom.
“They influenced the others,” said McCrary, who plans to major in biology at Columbus State University. “They didn’t vote on anything. They said, ’This is what we’re going to do.”’
The school has 439 students, 232 of them black. McCrary and a white friend passed out fliers informing students of all races that they would be welcome at the May 9 prom at nearby Fort Valley State University.
The private prom is Friday night 50 miles away in Columbus.
Erin Posey, a white senior, said the entire junior class joined together in hosting last year’s prom, but this year’s junior class wasn’t as unified.
“I think a lot of seniors were disappointed,” she said. “Now we have to choose between two groups of friends.”
Posey plans to attend both proms.
“I had some white friends who were not going to the other (inclusive) prom,” she said. “I wanted to have time with everybody. I’ll have a lot of (black) friends there, too. A lot more of the seniors are going to be at the mixed one.”
After school integration, separate proms were common in the rural South, but Taylor County was among the last to cling to the practice.
Glenda Latimore, a 1972 graduate, was in the first class to have separate black and white proms. Now her 16-year-old son, Gerard, is preparing for prom night.
As the black junior class president, her son helped organize the open-to-all prom. The class also has a white president.
“I would have liked to see it together this year,” said Latimore, an outfielder on the school’s baseball team. “My class would have, too. It just didn’t happen this year.”
Glenda Latimore said relatives in Philadelphia and New Jersey laugh when they read about Taylor County’s prom. She said residents here are “nice and friendly,” but they still have a problem with proms.
“It seems like it’s something secret,” she said. “The white people are afraid to speak up against the separation.
“But I went to a black prom and I had fun,” she said. “It didn’t kill me, so I tell my son, ’Just go to the prom and have fun. Don’t come out hating anyone.”’

BlueFire · 05-01-2003, 09:38 PM

Yeah, I read that earlier.

People can be so dumb..

Xantar · 05-01-2003, 10:28 PM

My roommate is a white guy from Georgia, and there isn't going to be anybody more pissed off at this news than him. He knows Georgia's history and how the rest of the United States looks at the South. The last thing he wants is for people in Georgia to shoot themselves in the foot again.

DeathsHand · 05-01-2003, 10:33 PM

It's about damn time...

Black people... They help make the world worse along with homosexuals...

GameMaster · 05-01-2003, 10:51 PM

I just finished reading a book about the Little Rock Nine and then this occurs, how ironic.

Anyway, this is a real step backwards and I can't believe it's happening.

GameMaster · 05-01-2003, 10:57 PM

Can you give me the URL to that article?

ZeroCool51 · 05-01-2003, 11:03 PM

That's the most F#cked up thing ive heard of all month.

GameKinG · 05-02-2003, 12:31 AM

That kind of thing just shouldnt be acceptable anymore. I mean, it never should have, but seperate race proms, not cool.

mickydaniels · 05-02-2003, 10:19 AM

you're real funny DH.

Things like these don't surprise me. You can make whatever laws you want but you can't force people to accept just any view.

You can't force people to change their minds.

But what really sucks is nobody comes out and states their feelings. The ones who support integrated proms gave opinions but not those that made it happen. Cowards.

DeathsHand · 05-02-2003, 05:11 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by mickydaniels
you're real funny DH.

I try to be

Jason1 · 05-02-2003, 05:33 PM

I dont think DH is joking...

But yea thats pretty sad...but It dosent surprise me...racist people are racist people...Its what they do.

Spike_Spiegel · 05-02-2003, 08:19 PM

Heh, I remember Chris Mathews interviewing the principal of the school last year on Hardball last year.

Chris kept asking him how they allowed a segregated prom for 30 years before that, and he spinned the subject completely to make it seem like it wasn't a matter of segregation at all. He was such a dumbass (and a goddamn racist too).

PureEvil · 05-02-2003, 08:56 PM

LOL. Those kids...

Personally, I don't find it to be such a bad thing. That's the great part about living in North America -- You're free to think what you want. The kids aren't hurting anything; It's not as though they're running around beating on black people or something.

They're just calmly, peacefully acting on their opinion, which is theirs to have when living in the United States.

And really, it's a two way street. The blacks are free to have their own blacks-only prom if they want, and that'd be fine too.

I don't think it's fair to lash out at people for having an opinion, and the fact that it's a racially-oriented opinion changes nothing. Having (and acting on) opinions, even if they seem racist to some, is one of the things that makes North America so diverse, and makes living in North America so great.

Instead of going "Oh those damn racists! blah blah blah," try looking at it from a different point of view. Racism is just another opinion; Another personal choice. As long as no one is being physically hurt as a result of it, who gives a f-ck?

Jason1 · 05-02-2003, 11:11 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by PureEvil
LOL. Those kids...

Personally, I don't find it to be such a bad thing. That's the great part about living in North America -- You're free to think what you want. The kids aren't hurting anything; It's not as though they're running around beating on black people or something.

They're just calmly, peacefully acting on their opinion, which is theirs to have when living in the United States.

And really, it's a two way street. The blacks are free to have their own blacks-only prom if they want, and that'd be fine too.

I don't think it's fair to lash out at people for having an opinion, and the fact that it's a racially-oriented opinion changes nothing. Having (and acting on) opinions, even if they seem racist to some, is one of the things that makes North America so diverse, and makes living in North America so great.

Instead of going "Oh those damn racists! blah blah blah," try looking at it from a different point of view. Racism is just another opinion; Another personal choice. As long as no one is being physically hurt as a result of it, who gives a f-ck?

Very well put. I was scared to say something like that for fear of being called a racist bastard.

nWoCHRISnWo · 05-03-2003, 01:23 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by PureEvil
LOL. Those kids...

Personally, I don't find it to be such a bad thing. That's the great part about living in North America -- You're free to think what you want. The kids aren't hurting anything; It's not as though they're running around beating on black people or something.

They're just calmly, peacefully acting on their opinion, which is theirs to have when living in the United States.

And really, it's a two way street. The blacks are free to have their own blacks-only prom if they want, and that'd be fine too.

I don't think it's fair to lash out at people for having an opinion, and the fact that it's a racially-oriented opinion changes nothing. Having (and acting on) opinions, even if they seem racist to some, is one of the things that makes North America so diverse, and makes living in North America so great.

Instead of going "Oh those damn racists! blah blah blah," try looking at it from a different point of view. Racism is just another opinion; Another personal choice. As long as no one is being physically hurt as a result of it, who gives a f-ck?

Racist bastard.