Georgians Plan Whites-Only Prom Party

By ELLIOTT MINOR, Associated Press Writer

ALBANY, Ga. - 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.'"

son of a bitch...


i really hate being from the south sometimes...

...

Oh doesn't it bring tears of joy to your eyes? It's amazing that our enlightened nation still has a huge part that is in the fucking dark.

Is that what you mean when you say "the land of the free"?

i hear that strom thurmond is the head of prom-planning committee at taylor county high school...

PANDURITO said:

"land of the fucking racists" just didn't have quite the same ring to it...

EllisDee said:

Strom would hold interracial proms in a hushed up secret.

This kind of thinking pisses me off

Coincidentally this is where the majority of the Compassionate conservatives live...

EllisDee said:

Yes. The problem is we're talking about people with an education. Some of them will grow up and become leaders.And then maybe they'll decide some oppressed people (not American of course)need freedom so they'll throw some bombs over them...You know the story.

Sorry

Essence said:

Is this from some 1952 article...this can't be happening in 2003...lawd, lawd, lawd...

PANDURITO said:

that's the fuckin' south for ya... ... ...

Funny thing is, they're probably gonna be playing 50 Cent at their prom.

NuPwrSoul said:

i'm sayin... this whole segregated prom-deal is ridiculous and it's a shame...

"White people are so scared of Black people. They bulldoze out to the country and put up houses on little loop-de-loop streets. While America gets its heart cut out of its chest the Berlin Wall still runs down main street seperating east side from west...America is just one big subdivision."

subdivision-ani difranco...

I didn't read the article, but it sounds awful.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

It's fucked up! I hate hearing this shit.

Signs that the old guard(knights) are alive and well.
This should show people that racism still exists and that even though you yourself may not be racist, it will take effort from each of us to defeat this old "evil".

u have got 2 be fuckin joking right?

I must say that it is completely and totally fucked up and wrong to organize a segregated school event... that shit should not be allowed in any way.

Fuck those bunch of assholes.

We should all crash their prom in blackface.

Lammastide said:

Who are you trying to offend? tip Al Jolson is not a hero among black people.

Is it just me, or does it sound like it's the adults pushing for the segregated dances here?

Maybe it is just me...

Rhondab said:

More like 1902.

I don't understand how something like this is still legal.

SuperC said:

Yeah... Jolson may sucks, but a number of black actors who were forced to perform in black(er)face are heroes in our community. Anyway, I wasn't going for offending anyone... It'd just be intersting to see the faces of all those "Pleasantville" prom-goers if a big group of people showed up dressed like the archetype they're so petrified of.

Mammie edit
[This message was edited Thu May 1 19:40:00 PDT 2003 by Lammastide]

NuPwrSoul said:

so true, so true...

DISCLAIMER: This is just my gut reaction and not a well-thought-out political statement or historical commentary. If you are from the south, and you aren't a hateful stupid bastard, than I don't mean you. That said:

Maybe instead of kicking the south's ass and making them stay, the north should have let them go, imposed sanctions, and offered political refugee status to all blacks. Then we could go about building a nice, stable, sane nation up here without all of the fucking southern hick idiots. Let them piss off the world and self-destruct on their own. Does the heat make them crazy/stupid? Is that what it is? WHY ARE THEY INTENT UPON HANGING ONTO IGNORANCE AND ALIENATING THE ENTIRE KNOWN UNIVERSE?! WHY WHY WHY?! I sure as hell hope that school isn't receiving any federal funding.

tackam said:

As far as racism and hate crimes go, the South is not the worst...

"California led the nation in the number of hate crime incidents in 1996, followed by New Jersey and New York." - ABC News

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

Thank you Supa!!!