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.'"

[stop_fascism]

The best golfer in the world is primarily of Thai descent with some black, white and indian mixed in.

[Belial]

Can you imagine what would happen if WET (white entertainment television) came up. MY GOD! I would love to see the uproar.

Whenever I heard this point raised, I have to shake my head and wonder: is this person being disingenuous, or is it just extreme ignorance of history, media and the social structure of our country...

[MineralMan]

"None of that matters. It only matters if the "white devil" does it. Can you imagine what would happen if WET (white entertainment television) came up. MY GOD! I would love to see the uproar."

It's a free country, dude. Get your bucks together and start it up. Nobody can stop you. Get it on the cable and see if you can sell enough advertising to keep it in business.

We have freedom of speech here, so you can start whatever TV station you want, especially a satellite or cable-based one. I wonder why nobody's done this. You could get in on the ground floor. Shoot, you might make millions of dollars.

Go for it.

[k2blader]

The racist one is technically a private party.

Indeed.

[demosthenes the elder]

correction: lugsoul's consistency

[Dan from Michigan]

Well, they have every right to do that by freedom of association. On the same note, others have the same freedom not to associate with jerks like that.

BTW - Can the posters here not use the term "rednecks and hicks". I happen to be a redneck in some respects and have a lot of friends who are. Most of us don't think like these jerks.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

That is pretty damned sad.

[demosthenes the elder]

read again: there is no school prom.
Both parties are private affairs.

[MineralMan]

"Can the posters here not use the term "rednecks and hicks". "

No problem. I'm not using either word. The correct word for these dimwits is "racists." There'll be lots of "rednecks" at the official school prom, I'm sure.

[ricpic]

"I hope they at least take their hoods off at the door when they get to their "whites only" party. It's enough to make you want to vomit."

No it isn't. Gauranteed, in the course of the school year, their is considerable tension between whites and blacks at this school. Why should the whites want to party with those with whom they are tense? Calling people bigotted isn't going to change human nature.

[stainlessbanner]

If it was reversed, nobody would say a thing.

Bingo

[Onelifetogive]

maybe its not a color difference but a cultural one.

It is not being sold as a separate party for "people of a certain culture." It is sold as a separate party for "whites." The implication (which you are seemingly supporting) is that all whites have the same culture and all blacks have the same culture.

I reject that notion. There are plenty of whites with cultures that I would have nothing to do with and plenty of blacks with the same culture I have.

[lilylangtree]

Think back about a week ago when the RATS presidential candidates attended the all black mayor conference, did anyone hear the whites crying about it? Now what makes this event so special, huh?

[okiesap]

Even after 40 years of integration something ugly is boiling under the surface at our public schools. Hostility between blacks and whites, particularly at the public junior and high school levels, is real and intense.

Segregating the prom won't help matters but it proves my point.

[kevao]

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

But surely you admit that it would have been just as possible that someone from your father's family would have objected to him dating a white girl? Your original post seemed to imply that only a white family would object to the inter-racial marriage.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Crazy White People !

[blanknoone]

While that might have been history...it is no longer the case. There are lots of incidents of self segregation, even currently, but the outrage is only when it is caucasians doing it. I am just wondering, with almost 500 people in the class, surely there are some hispanic and asian students, are they allowed? I still think the best reply to this is to go to the segregated prom as an interracial couple.

[Corin Stormhands]

I wonder where the parents are in all this?

Writing the checks.

[ladyjane]

Private club, public school.

Big difference.

Private club. Private party. No big difference.

[demosthenes the elder]

point.
no generalization can be held as true for all individual scenarios, but a little chat with Japanese families, Jewish families, Vietnamese families... oh, and BLACK families would cure that misguided notion.