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.'"

[FeliciaCat]

"Somebody please check for me what year it is?"

LOL!!! I was thinking the same thing! I can't believe this. A school Prom is a school Prom, its all about your classmates celebrating, NOT about color - white or black. This is wild.....

[headsonpikes]

"I bet those six families were conniving..."

I'd like to think most juniors aren't quite so controlled by inbred relatives.

[demosthenes the elder]

please stop by for a looksie.

[adx]

They can do it if they want, but it'd be really nice if nobody showed up for their little racist prom.

It'd be even nicer if (white) kids opposed to this showed up with black dates. :-)

[MineralMan]

"The thing that really surprised me was that the ACLU was nowhere to be seen."

There's no role here for the ACLU. The school prom isn't segregated. It's a private dance that's segregated. The kids can do that if they want, no matter how stupid it is.

[Onelifetogive]

I don't understand why this is upsetting to Freepers. Didn't we just decide that it was okay to keep women out of golf clubs? By the same reasoning it's okay to keep blacks out of proms.

I could explain how it's not the same...but it would be a twisted and tortured, hillary-like explanation. I think I'll just say "Good point" instead.

[kevao]

My white mother married my Native American father. Sure glad she didn't have hicks in her family.

Are you implying that only whites are hicks?

[Guillermo]

Im sure there are many who would want this type of party outlawed.

Left wingers only believe in freedom of association, as long as perverts, transexuals, homosexuals, etc are allowed to join.

[Belial]

I wonder how many of these rubes can even spell "backwards"?

[lugsoul]

no, it's just not illegal. it's still wrong.

[mabelkitty]

You responded to the wrong post.

He was commenting on a school-sponsored prom forbidding the entry of couples of different race.

[mabelkitty]

I'm implying that if her family had forbidden her from dating my father, I would consider them hicks.

[geaux]

I was commenting on a different situation; please see my post #13 w/ re: the actions of a public high school in my state.

[MineralMan]

"He was commenting on a school-sponsored prom forbidding the entry of couples of different race."

OK, that's really wrong. A school-sponsored event, if it's a public school, just can't legally do that.

[MineralMan]

"I was commenting on a different situation; please see my post #13 w/ re: the actions of a public high school in my state."

My error. Sorry.

[Khepera]

Could it be that the White students dont want to listen to crap music and prefer "Tean Angel" instead? Maybe there is too wide a cultural difference? Maybe they have other reasons. What happened to freedom of association?

[AuH2ORepublican]

"It's called freedom of association."

---

They have every right to have a private prom that excludes people based on their skin color. And I have every right to say they're being stupid. And saying that "blacks self-segregate in college cafeterias" doesn't make it any less stupid for these white students to do this, since, last I heard, two wrongs still don't make a right.

[MineralMan]

"Could it be that the White students dont want to listen to crap music and prefer "Tean Angel" instead? Maybe there is too wide a cultural difference? Maybe they have other reasons. What happened to freedom of association?"

I assume you mean "Teen Angel." Have you any idea how old that song is? Do you seriously think kids today, whatever race, are listening to music like that? Turn a radio on and get a clue.