Georgians Plan Whites-Only Prom Party

Associated Press ^ | 05-01-03

[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.