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.'"

[anniegetyourgun]

That's just wrong.

[The Old Hoosier]

Somebody please check for me what year it is?

[Fraulein]

What?

[KantianBurke]

its their right to have their own white only prom just as its my right to think of them as being just as stupid as those who want gays only graduations or blacks only college dorms.

[grapeape]

Is Superman up there turning the world backwards again. I told him to stop that. Lois is just moving on. he is going to have to live with it. GOSH...

[Guillermo]

It's called freedom of association.

[Bigg Red]

What a shame. I hope they have a change of heart. This is 2003.

[anniegetyourgun]

I don't think anyone is arguing 'their rights'....only the morality that it reflects. It's wrong.

[headsonpikes]

It's just some cliquey teenagers exercising their God-given right to be stupid.

I wonder where the parents are in all this?

[Onelifetogive]

It's called freedom of association.

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.

[never4get]

They may have a right not to associate with someone because of their skin color on their own time but they are wrong in what they are doing. 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.

[geaux]

I don't have as much of a problem with this as I did with a high school in my area that refused to admit racially mixed couples.

[KantianBurke]

never said it was a moral thing to do. Its not. But they do have the freedom of association however badly or immorally they use it.

[Zansman]

Is the date on this 2003 or 1903?

Man, what a whacked out world we live in. The best golfer in the world is a black dude, the best rapper is a white guy and you have these "Gone With The Wind" throwbacks having a "White's Only" prom (and before you flame me, I'm just as disgusted by "black only" type events)!!??

A privately owned club is one thing, this is entirely another. It's stuff like this that kills us when we try to argue against affirmative action and other race-based policies.

All this is because of "inter-racial dating problems"? I can tell you one thing, I'm glad my kid isn't growing up in some "cracker-barrell" community like Albany, GA. These folks are a piece of work.

[staytrue]

Because the school is about 50-50, in this case, it is freedom of association. However, if a majority (80-90%) decides to separate, it's more like a boycott. For example, if 90% was white (or black) and they had a separate prom, barring the other 10 %, it would not be much of a prom for those being boycotted. This school has about 100 people in each class, if it were 90% white and the proms were separate, that would leave about 10 people left to have their own "prom". That is hardly freedom of association. That would be more like blackballing.

[BADROTOFINGER]

As the black junior class president, her son helped organize the open-to-all prom. The class also has a white president.

And...

"It seems like it's something secret," she said. "The white people are afraid to speak up against the separation.

Then you said...

That's just wrong.

But with the school sanctioned level of segregation apparent in the article, not entirely unexpected. The racial tit-for-tat that seems to be the S.O.P. in this school invites this kind of crap..JFK

[kcordell]

Oh great. Sure helps Georgia's backward image. Just what we need.

Kudos to the teens who invited everyone.

[Laura Earl]

I know when I graduated in 1977 in Gadsden AL a whites-only prom was unheard of. We were completely integrated. However, the whites danced with whites and the blacks danced with blacks. Nowadays that has changed, but still having an exclusionary event seems terribly backwards. I suppose the ones who go on to college within the next couple of years will pledge to a frat and continue on their merry exclusionary way. By the way, at the risk of getting hammered by the English grammar Nazis out there, is exclusionary a word? Don't have a dictionary handy.

[MineralMan]

Dumb. I guess they have the right to do this, since it's a private party, but what a stupid idea. Here these kids go to school all year long together, but some of the white kids want to have a dance that excludes half of the school's students because they're a different color.

Archaic, stupid, and ignorant.

[mabelkitty]

Problems of inter-racial dating?

My white mother married my Native American father.

Sure glad she didn't have hicks in her family.

[mabelkitty]

Not if this is a public school.

[ladyjane]

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. Where's Hootie? He'll explain it all.

[aristeides]

C-SPAN had a phone-in segment a few days ago where they only accepted calls from minorities.

[Guillermo]

Agreed.

[KantianBurke]

the bi-racial prom that's being organizd by the school is public. The racist one is technically a private party. Thus they have every right to act like rednecks and we have every right to call them on it.

[Guillermo]

It's not on public school grounds...

[mabelkitty]

Me thinks the parents put the Juniors up to this because they are hicks.

I bet those six families were conniving about how to plan this all year.

[lugsoul]

Oh, goodness. They're gonna destroy our heritage.

[mabelkitty]

Jeez! Are you kidding me?

I must be out of the loop big time (I don't have kids).

[Guillermo]

No matter what the percentages are, it will always be freedom of association.

No one has a right to go to a private party they are not invited to.

[MineralMan]

"Me thinks the parents put the Juniors up to this because they are hicks.

I bet those six families were conniving about how to plan this all year."

I'll bet you're right. What a sad thing for their children, to have to grow up in a racist household. I do hope they learn better when they move out and grow up.

Dumb, dumb, dumb.

[mabelkitty]

Good point. I missed that.

This is bizarre.

[MineralMan]

"No one has a right to go to a private party they are not invited to."

I don't think anyone's arguing with that. It's just that what these kids are doing is just stupid. They can do it if they want, but it'd be really nice if nobody showed up for their little racist prom.

[mabelkitty]

Private club, public school.

Big difference.

[demosthenes the elder]

nah, it is just "freedom of association" as protected under the 1stAmendment, so it isn't "wrong".
It does appear to be silly, however.
*shrugging*

[geaux]

I don't think you're the one who's out of the loop; I think that highschool is the one that needs to catch up with the times. The thing that really surprised me was that the ACLU was nowhere to be seen.

[Fraulein]

I understand that. I'm just surprised that in the year 2003 anything like freedom of association still exists. I'm surprised that lawyers haven't already flocked to the scene. Shocked, I tell ya!

[mabelkitty]

I got it.

[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.