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'Prom Night in Mississippi' Makes History
Voice of America ^ | 09 March 2009 | Penelope Poulou

Posted on 03/15/2009 1:42:17 AM PDT by ozguy

A new documentary, shown several weeks after the inauguration of Barack Obama, the first African-American president of the United States, focuses on racism in the American South.

Last year, Charleston, Mississippi's high school seniors, 70 percent black and 30 percent white, were in full swing for the biggest event of their school lives: senior prom. It's a pre-graduation formal affair that culminates with the selection of the most popular male and female seniors: the prom king and queen.

But Paul Saltzman's documentary has an unusual twist. The 2008 Charleston prom was racially integrated for the first time, thanks to Academy Award winner and Charleston resident Morgan Freeman, who pushed for the change.

"I'm offering them the opportunity to do it, to break this logjam of social inaction," said the actor.

"Do you wanna have a prom, instead of two or three?" he asked Charleston high school seniors. "You all arrange your prom. I'll pay for it. Deal?"

(Excerpt) Read more at voanews.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Mississippi
KEYWORDS:

1 posted on 03/15/2009 1:42:17 AM PDT by ozguy
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To: ozguy

And just WHAT does the “LITTLE FUHRER” have to do with this ... ABSOLUTELY NOTHING...

LITTLE FUHRER is not Bridging the Racial Divide... he is INCREASING IT !!!


2 posted on 03/15/2009 1:58:40 AM PDT by gwilhelm56 (My 2nd amendment protects my 1st amendment... I carry a GUN because I can't Carry a SOLDIER!)
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To: ozguy

I can’t believe in this day and age, they still had segregated proms.

I think the mainstream media loves to focus on racism in the South as if its exclusive to the South. As a person of mixed heritage, I can attest that there is racism in the bluest of blue states if not more than a state like Georgia. Race is just dealt with differently in different regions.


3 posted on 03/15/2009 2:02:38 AM PDT by cdchik123
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To: ozguy
Whole piece is basically about thought crimes.

Apart from one allegation where "Jessica" claims she can't get a job "because she has black friends". More likely she can't get a job because she has a bad attitude.

I dislike thought crime pieces. Especially when they are directed against minorities, as they are here.
4 posted on 03/15/2009 2:02:57 AM PDT by chuck_the_tv_out
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To: ozguy

“Last year, Charleston, Mississippi’s high school seniors, 70 percent black and 30 percent white” seems like the whites are in the minority here and probably have been for some time so it may have been the black folks who didn’t want a integrated prom until now.

Mel


5 posted on 03/15/2009 2:07:36 AM PDT by melsec (A Proud Aussie)
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To: cdchik123

Thank you for pointing that out. The Southern racist meme does indeed get old.


6 posted on 03/15/2009 2:11:36 AM PDT by WildcatClan (Iam fimus mos ledo ventus apparatus)
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To: ozguy
Welcome to the 20th century, Mississippi.
7 posted on 03/15/2009 2:17:59 AM PDT by trumandogz (The Democrats are driving us to Socialism at I00 MPH -The GOP is driving us to Socialism at 97.5 MPH)
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To: WildcatClan

Yes it does. From what I can tell, races are much more integrated in the South than anywhere else.

I know on HBO, Nancy Pelosi’s daughter Christine Pelosi made a documentary on people who voted for McCain in Mississippi. She got someone on tape to say they weren’t voting for Obama to say because they didnt want to “vote for no nigger.”

Later she went and asked two black men about it, and they basically called out how she came all the way down to Mississippi to get someone to say the n word and make the South and Mississippi look bad and paint the state as racist. They said that liberals in Massachusetts and New York call black people the n word just as much if not more, and why she didn’t put THAT on camera. They answered it by saying because it wouldn’t go with her message of red-state racism.

They told her off good!


8 posted on 03/15/2009 2:24:23 AM PDT by cdchik123
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To: WildcatClan
True. There's racism all over.


9 posted on 03/15/2009 2:24:27 AM PDT by chuck_the_tv_out
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To: cdchik123
They told her off good!

Good! :))

10 posted on 03/15/2009 2:35:08 AM PDT by WildcatClan (Iam fimus mos ledo ventus apparatus)
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To: ozguy

Racism: racists keep trying to keep it alive.


11 posted on 03/15/2009 5:26:39 AM PDT by RoadTest (The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? - Jer.17:9)
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To: cdchik123
I can’t believe in this day and age, they still had segregated proms.

They were segregated by choice rather than by force of law. Big difference.

12 posted on 03/15/2009 6:21:06 AM PDT by JimRed ("Hey, hey, Teddy K., how many girls did you drown today?" TERM LIMITS, NOW AND FOREVER!)
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To: trumandogz

Gee, wow, what “perfect” state do you reside in? pppfffftttt!!!
This story is so loaded with crap it’s silly.


13 posted on 03/15/2009 6:22:13 AM PDT by Airwinger (Semper Fi, Time to use that motto for our Constitution.)
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To: Airwinger

I live in a state the did away with segregation more than 40 years ago and unlike Mississippi is not an economic backwater.


14 posted on 03/15/2009 1:09:13 PM PDT by trumandogz (The Democrats are driving us to Socialism at I00 MPH -The GOP is driving us to Socialism at 97.5 MPH)
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To: chuck_the_tv_out

That trucker was a idiot. Why would you stop in the middle of a riot and with your doors unlocked?
Just put her in gear and blow the horn.


15 posted on 03/15/2009 1:18:36 PM PDT by Yorlik803 ( Freedom- 07-04-1776-11-06-2008. RIP)
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To: Yorlik803

I’ve wondered the same thing.


16 posted on 03/15/2009 1:20:36 PM PDT by chuck_the_tv_out
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To: Yorlik803

He didn’t know about the riot though I think. It had only just started. That live video increased the riot/looting because they saw they could get away with stuff


17 posted on 03/15/2009 1:21:29 PM PDT by chuck_the_tv_out
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To: trumandogz

Yeah boy, you got me there, still segagated here in ole Mississippi, and us hillybilly bumpkins, why all wes can do is build the finest ships made, make Nissans premier autos and scratch up stuff to put together rocket motors, why this backwater fool should just “hush up now” /S


18 posted on 03/16/2009 6:35:08 AM PDT by Airwinger (Semper Fi, Time to use that motto for our Constitution.)
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