Georgians Plan Whites-Only Prom Party

Associated Press ^ | 05-01-03

[Brian S]

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.'"

[cyborg]

White guilt is pitiful. I hate it. My views are also mixed on this issue. This issue isn't that old. Legal segregation ended only forty years ago. There are a lot of people alive with bad memories and bitterness. I think after that generation dies out, we'll all be better off without the racists,bitter people,etc.

[Publius6961]

O'Reilly might dodge the question, but no one else can.
Where was the outrage about black-only proms in the past few years?

Sorry, O'Reilly's lame excuse won't cut it.
"Excusing bad behavior because others do the same thing" is "spinning" of the worst kind and a cowardly way to dodge the question.

Fear of certain segments of the public is a lame excuse for selective outrage.

[cyborg]

When have the black proms occured? If they happen in a intergrated school then are PUBLICALLY announced that blacks-only can attend then I'd be outraged. My sister has never been turned away at all black dances/clubs/etc. HOWEVER, she has black friends that have not been exactly welcomed at mostly white dance clubs,etc. I know O'Reilly can contradict himself BUT didn't he point out the whole Ludacris- Pepsi commercial thing?

[ricpic]

Wow, do you have a romanticized view of Latin America! From Mexico in the north to Chile in the south there isn't one Latin American country that is not highly stratified according to race. The ruling class in every one of them is overwhelmingly white with a smattering of white/indian mixtures (mestizos). The blacks are at the bottom. Total racism.
Saying that birds of a feather flock together, on the other hand, is not racism. It is an acknowledgment that those who are similar (which includes race) are by and large more comfortable with each other than with those who are dis-similar.
To accept that does not mean that you treat anyone uncivilly or that you assume that anyone is either inferior or superior to you based on race. You can believe that people are more comfortable with "their own kind" based on experience and STILL understand that the most important way to judge another individual is on his individual merit or lack of merit.
Believe me, in Latin America, group labeling is much more pervasive than it is here. Be born black in a place like Brazil, and unless you have some extraordinary sports skill or possess great beauty, you are doomed to the lower orders of society. No value given to individuality there!

[cyborg]

I am not saying it's perfect in every country south of the US border. However, I am going by my experiences and by what my parents experienced in this country as a mixed race couple. My mother is not from this country. She's half black and half Spanish, and my father is Italian. People don't look at mixed race couples sideways in the Latin countries and Caribbean nations the way they do here. Diversity is paid a lot of lipservice but sometimes it isn't really true. Problem with this country is that people are too comfortable with old,outdated notions of how to get along with people. I will have to respectfully disagree with you on your hypothesis that's people stay with their own kind. Esp. when for so long in America, it was taught in all aspects of media and even enforced in American government by segregation, jim crow and miscegenation laws.

BTW, I was not calling you a racist. Hope you did not get that impression.

[Bitman]

I totally agree with "freedom of association." I just happen to think that one is quite an idiot if they are unable to come up with any traits other than skin color to decide who to associate with.

Does this apply to the Miss Black America organizers too?

[Austin Willard Wright]

Native American? That doesn't tell us much. A native American is simply somebody who was born in the United States.

[Onelifetogive]

Does this apply to the Miss Black America organizers too?

Completely!!!

[VRWCmember]

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.

School officials, in cowardly fashion STOPPED SPONSORING DANCES, and the result was that parents and students started organizing private separate proms. Had the school officials continued to sponsor the proms -- and found a creative solution to address problems related to the bigotry of backwards individuals within both racial groups -- this would not be an issue at all.