2003, and this is still part of the human race

[Finger Poppin']

U.S. National - AP

Georgians Plan Whites-Only Prom Party
!


By ELLIOTT MINOR, Associated Press Writer

ALBANY, Ga. - 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.'"

[RonF]

Finger Poppin',
I also couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this. I just posted it over at B3ers.

[Pharaohrock]

the South is so full of morons it's not even funny...sometimes I wonder if they REALLY need a reminder of the serious ass-whupping they got, and that in the larger realm of divine justice their enslavement of blacks probably had SOMETHING to do with that.

What is in the water down there that makes people so ignorant and hateful??

The South is like another nation, even to this day. Anyone who doesn't believe that, I invite you to take a trip "down thar".

[3pointdeli]

i live in georgia.

it is, indeed, full of dumbfucks, black and white.

there is constantly something embarrassing happening here.

i thank my luck stars every day that i wasn't born in the south, and that one day i'll be packing up and moving away.

[catesta]

This is really bad.

How can anyone think this kind of shit cool?

[3pointdeli]

it's not a matter of being cool or thinking something is cool. this is who these folks are: dumb hicks.

[Finger Poppin']

IT's not like you're born this way. You're raised this way. These kids had no chance when it's a normal daily thing like taking a s*#$.

[Saundra Hummer]

Originally posted by Finger Poppin'
IT's not like you're born this way. You're raised this way. These kids had no chance when it's a normal daily thing like take a s*#$.

Hey, it's not just the south that has it's share of biggots!

A friend of mine wanted to go to a party in Manhattan Beach in Southern California. The people hosting the party were from Michigan. Since he didn't want to go alone he invited my friend from Hawaii and myself.
When we arrived, everyone was really terrific, friendly, etc, happy to have some locals, then they spotted my Hawaiian friend, and the looks of hatred and the insults that started flying were unbelievable. "Am I seeing things or is that a niger!"
I was amazed, I mean amazed along with feeling terrible for my friend! Luckily he never heard them and we made a swift exit!
There are racists and biggots everywhere. Not just in the south. It is shocking, but not surprising that such ideas and people still exist.

[shawn·m]

Absolutely outrageous! I just don’t understand how such ignorant, malicious bullshit keeps perpetuating itself.

[Noj]

What is really troubling is how overtly racist this is, and how young the participating racial larvae are. I say we spay them, or at least require mandatory condoms for morons.

I grew up with friends of all colors because I would meet them skateboarding and playing basketball--my two favorite sports. I can remember actually experiencing a social backlash in which my white friends would call me things like "wannabe mexican" or they would tell me I "want to be black." This is the middle of Los Angeles, mind you, I can only imagine the social pressures of the deep south. Funny, I have always been able to judge people individually and could never understand why others were quick to jump to racist conclusions.

I think racism is simply caused by racial isolation--a Mexican friend of mine just came back from mainland China and talked about how the locals stared at him and were rude to him. I think this is a similar context.

[3pointdeli]

i don't know if isolationism is the factor in this case since whites are slightly in the minority:

>>>The school has 439 students, 232 of them black<<<

notice, if you will, that the white prom is being held 50 miles outside of town.

[Saundra Hummer]

Originally posted by 3pointdeli
i don't know if isolationism is the factor in this case since whites are slightly in the minority:

>>>The school has 439 students, 232 of them black<<<

notice, if you will, that the white prom is being held 50 miles outside of town.

And this makes it acceptable? Hold a private party any time, that is your right, but to make your prom a semi-private affair is hurtful, and shortsighted.

[Noj]

Originally posted by 3pointdeli
i don't know if isolationism is the factor in this case since whites are slightly in the minority:

>>>The school has 439 students, 232 of them black<<<

notice, if you will, that the white prom is being held 50 miles outside of town.

I thought the same thing after my post, good point. However, when all one's friends and relatives are a certain persuasion, there is a social isolationism--a prevailing "us and them" attitude. I agree I hastily drew that comparison.

[3pointdeli]

that's exactly *NOT* what i meant, saundra. i'm not excusing anyone. the fact that the prom is 50 miles away suggests to me that the white kids (or parents) who want a seperate prom are scared of what kind of reaction they might get from the community at large.

i don't believe that the reason these white people are racists is because they have never been around blacks.

[Noj]

Originally posted by 3pointdeli
i don't believe that the reason these white people are racists is because they have never been around blacks.

That's not entirely what I meant. I feel that white kids who are racist do not interact with black kids socially (and conversely). I have family that are racist yet would not claim to be so--however when they interact with black people it all comes out in plain sight. They have trouble being sociable and keeping their prejudice under wraps.

I remember a black guy was working on our telephones at the house, and my dad was talking to him when I came in the room. My dad said, "This is my youngest son, Jon. He plays basketball and stuff." Now, my dad didn't mean to be racist, but assuming that a black guy plays basketball because he is black is just that. I was, of course, mortified.

[3pointdeli]

you're right, a racist would not voluntarily socialize with the people they hate.

[Saundra Hummer]

Originally posted by 3pointdeli
that's exactly *NOT* what i meant, saundra. i'm not excusing anyone. the fact that the prom is 50 miles away suggests to me that the white kids (or parents) who want a seperate prom are scared of what kind of reaction they might get from the community at large.

I don't believe that the reason these white people are racists is because they have never been around blacks.

I should have worded my reply differently!

I didn't mean you have these ideas, I meant the kids and their parent have these ideas, and that they are just too hurtful, and that hurt will, or could last a lifetime.

I have people that I love being around and people that I wish I had never laid eyes on, but school is school, and a prom is a school function. These are young kids, and I remember being that age, and how you wear your heart and your emotions on your sleeve. It is an emotional time, and should be a positive fun time, not filled with such venom.

How you stop it, I don't know, shame doesn't seem to be a factor.

It's like having a bully for a child! I would be mortified if a child of mine were to ever act this way, however many parent's tolerate such behavior, and maybe even promote it in some cases.

Are there black students who bully the white students? Have there been racial problems caused by the blacks? We haven't heard that argument yet. Are there parents who have promoted this, and if so, shame on them!

Sad, sad, sad!

Aren't we susposed to be better educated to the problems that racisim causes in this world? It seem we're not!

Where is compassion and a sense of fairplay? Gone by the wayside?

I don't think the people who escaped with their lives from the World Trade Center cared for a moment what color the hand was that helped them out of that smokey, dust laden hell. Or what religion they were for that matter!

Shouldn't this always be the case?

This wasn't directed at you, just at the injustice of it all!

I for one am glad that you care

[Jazzmoose]

Originally posted by 3pointdeli
you're right, a racist would not voluntarily socialize with the people they hate.

Guys, it's more than this. I grew up in the area (well, south Georgia anyway; the west side as opposed to the east side), and although there were an equal number of whites and blacks in our school, and we saw each other every day, any interaction between the two races was extremely limited. Whites sat on one side of the room, blacks on the other (although I still see that even here in "progressive" California, so maybe that's not so strange...) and spoke to each other rarely outside of the class room. Very few of us made the effort to bridge the gap, and of course caught a lot of shit for doing so.

HOWEVER, the assholes giving us shit (the serious racists) were a VERY small minority of the student body. Most of the people didn't hate anyone, they were just afraid. And when people become afraid and stay that way, they are very easy to manipulate, as the racists realized. They were afraid of the other race, afraid of their own friends, afraid of damn near everything.

So I see the problem as one of fear, not one of hate. The only way this situation can change is for enough of the "normal" people to say enough is enough and stand up to the loud mouthed racists. I thought it would have happened by now, but I guess not.

By the way, I appreciate that many of you find those who judge entire groups based on the actions of the few, or on silly myths, or just on plain bias as offensive acts. Keep in mind that condemning everyone in the south as racist rednecks because of this group is doing the same thing. Hell, we had integrated proms in our high school from the early seventies on. No one even considered trying this kind of bullshit. A suggestion: look into the history of Albany, Georgia, particularly in the Civil Rights era of the '50s and '60s. You'll discover it isn't just any small Georgia city, but a particularly foul one...

[Noj]

Good post Jazzmoose.

Originally posted by Jazzmoose


Guys, it's more than this. I grew up in the area (well, south Georgia anyway; the west side as opposed to the east side), and although there were an equal number of whites and blacks in our school, and we saw each other every day, any interaction between the two races was extremely limited. Whites sat on one side of the room, blacks on the other (although I still see that even here in "progressive" California, so maybe that's not so strange...) and spoke to each other rarely outside of the class room. Very few of us made the effort to bridge the gap, and of course caught a lot of shit for doing so.

HOWEVER, the assholes giving us shit (the serious racists) were a VERY small minority of the student body. Most of the people didn't hate anyone, they were just afraid. And when people become afraid and stay that way, they are very easy to manipulate, as the racists realized. They were afraid of the other race, afraid of their own friends, afraid of damn near everything.

So I see the problem as one of fear, not one of hate. The only way this situation can change is for enough of the "normal" people to say enough is enough and stand up to the loud mouthed racists. I thought it would have happened by now, but I guess not...

All of this was true of my Los Angeles school.