Georgia High School Students Organize First-Ever Integrated Prom

So students at Wilcox County High School in Rochelle, Georgia, have held one prom for white students and one prom for black students ever since.

In the fall, Quanesha Wallace, a black girl, was crowned homecoming queen. A white male student was crowned homecoming king. They went to two separate dances and were photographed for the yearbook separately.

news.yahoo.com...

Senior Keela Bloodworth, another organizer of the integrated prom effort who's white, said her black friends wouldn't dare come to the other dance. "They would probably have the police come out there and escort them off the premises," Bloodworth told WGXA.

gma.yahoo.com...
This makes my blood boil that this is still happening in 2013?
I used to believe we were making progress towards a colorblind society, Any optimism of seeing an end to racism in my life time is quickly fading, especially when I see stories like this.
I want to know how this was allowed to go on so long. Why hasn't there been any outrage?

Ah, the South.

America's skid mark.

I was going to say "I can't believe this!", but in the South, no surprise. Hey Georgians, read a book.

I wish the politicians from the south would just accept the fact that the north won and its over. Why do they still accept segregation in 2013? I cant believe not one group of people has spoke up about this. Everyone can move forward now. Ill lead the way.

And these children's parents are alright with this?

Gotta love the south.

reply to post by calstorm

To be totally honest...There are A LOT of places in this country that are self segregated or, in some cases, HAVE to be segregated just to keep people from killing each other. I think some folks assume racism is all 'The Man' throwing it down on people when it's just as often the average people of both sides willing to tear each other to pieces if not kept apart.

The best example are the L.A. twin towers and other areas of the municipal jail system. Someone in officialdom heard at one point that the L.A. County Sheriff's Department segregated by race and blew a fuse. Next thing ya know, the well meaning but VERY ignorant do gooder got them ordered to desegregate. They tried to warn what would happen... begged them NOT TO DO THIS...but you know do gooders. They just KNOW their outlook is the ONLY outlook which can be right and so, obey.

Well... You don't even need to open the stories to understand what happened when good intentions met the hard edge of reality. The headlines read like a story board. (sigh) I'm really not sure we'll see anything close to a nation free of deep individual racism within our lifetimes. It's too ingrained as a part of the culture and reinforced every form we fill out which asks us to self-distinguish by race alone in check boxes.

1 Killed, 50 Hurt in County Jail Race Riot (Feb 5, 2006)
LA County sheriff says inmates want segregation after jail riot (Feb 6, 2006)
Inmates Segregated After L.A. Jail Riots (Feb 7, 2006)
Two dead, 100 injured in Los Angeles County jail riots (Feb 27, 2006)

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


If only we could all be like the inmates... Wait, no. We should act nothing like the inmates. Just because prisoners form racial gangs gives no right for communities to segregate SCHOOL DANCES.

Originally posted by Mnemicrsl
I wish the politicians from the south would just accept the fact that the north won and its over. Why do they still accept segregation in 2013? I cant believe not one group of people has spoke up about this. Everyone can move forward now. Ill lead the way.

I can't quite believe no one has spoken up against this either. In this day and age, all it would have took would be for one student to contact the media to put an end to it. The lack of outrage baffles me.

Originally posted by cconn487
And these children's parents are alright with this?

Gotta love the south.

It seems the parents we not only alright with it, but the ones pushing for it. Thank goodness their children see things a little different.

It takes time for this. Lots more time. At least another 150 years plus. This kind of racism has to be breed out. It needs more parents who don't pass it on to there kids. More parents who teach compassion to others of any color and it's not just the south that is guilty of this.

Racism is a two way street also.

Here's an interesting tidbit. As of the 2000 census the racial makeup of the city of Rochelle, Ga was 46.08% White and 52.79% African American.

Rochelle Georgia Census

reply to post by DaTroof

I guess you missed or ignored where I said this is all over the continental United States. No biggy.. It happens.

It is though .. All over, that is. There are many towns through the Deep South and NOT so Southern (Some in Ohio for that matter), where being "On the wrong side of the tracks" is still, to this day a literal expression of geography for a whole town. Not figurative in any way. Nice middle class housing on one side of town and ghetto slums on the other. I'll let you guess which general color of people you find on which side...actually, not "general" but exclusive in those areas.

It was pretty shocking when I first saw that and other truckers on here have seen it too, I have no doubt. It's impossible not to if you've been on the road and running all over the states for any real length of time. My wife flat didn't believe what I was trying to tell her we were seeing for months. I guess it finally dawned on her in a real way a few times we went through areas like that in the summer when everyone is out and staying cool ...and you can see it's like a 1950's movie for little to no mixing. Period.

Still happening in 2013... and indeed. All over this country.

reply to post by calstorm


Yep, not surprising in the South. Ah well, better late than never. Things are slowly changing for the better, people are moving on from age old prejudices. I'd personally thank the young generations for moving things forward.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


That's pretty racist. Maybe you missed the trailer parks and who lives there. I dunno man, maybe you've spent time in poor neighborhoods. There are plenty of Black, White, Asian and Latino millionaires around me.

Originally posted by Mnemicrsl
I wish the politicians from the south would just accept the fact that the north won and its over. Why do they still accept segregation in 2013? I cant believe not one group of people has spoke up about this. Everyone can move forward now. Ill lead the way.

The two seperate proms are designed by parents and students, not 'politicians'. Self-segregation is the norm all over the country. Neighborhoods are typically homogenous. There's the 'lunch room test', which refers to segregation that's so typical in school cafeterias. People mainly choose to marry intraracially. The south is more racially diverse than other areas of the country. There are people from some lily-white New England community that will hypocritically condemn things like this.

OTOH, we desegregated the prom in Stephens County, Ga, long ago, and trust me, it's far more redneck than Rochelle.

We did have some odd stuff like a black band, a white band, and a mixed band since we weren't sure we would enjoy the other group's music (this was 79) but it was an honest attempt.

You want spooky, that's Arab, Alabama.

Lots of people in this thread are stereotyping the entire south from this one schools actions. That is both unfair and Not accurate at all. You cannot even say the whole of Georgia behaves the same.

How would you like it if I replied, " that's the Northerner's for you.. uneducated simpletons." - if the shoe fits...

Only time will heal the gap between racism.

Just look at your grandfather attitude, you dad's, yours, and your kids.

When i look at my neice and nephew playing with kids from other background, im like damn... parents are pretty tolerant nowadays.

I remember when parents come to pick up kids back in the days, they give the "look" to their kid when their kid plays with someone with different colour.

Now the playground is is pretty mixed.

reply to post by DaTroof


Racist or not it's reality. Chinatown isnt Chinatown by mandate or decree. Sure at some point racist and classist ordinances may have set the groundwork but nearly a century since the expiration of those ordinances people choose to live with others of the same culture and background.

Lunch room test is exactly what it is. People segregate themselves based on any number of factors. Economics, fashion, taste in music and even (shocking as it may be) their skin color.

Would you be upset or angry if you discovered some of the black students were upset about having to share their prom with some white kids? I guarantee there were at least a couple.

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


Of course. When I was graduating high school in the 90s, there were still prominent gangs and violence between people wearing the wrong colors. As stupid as that sounds, I think every graduating class is still mentally, and perhaps physically still in that gang group mentality, be it the gangs, the jocks, the nerds, the cheerleaders, the band, etc... So there will always be the potential for fights and so on at a prom, I just don't understand why to segregate by race? That is some backward stuff. Maybe the board in charge doesn't like when mixed couples dance, I dunno. I just find it stupid to segregate by race.

Originally posted by DaTroof
reply to post by Wrabbit2000

 

That's pretty racist. Maybe you missed the trailer parks and who lives there. I dunno man, maybe you've spent time in poor neighborhoods. There are plenty of Black, White, Asian and Latino millionaires around me.

I'm sorry, but if we've reached a point where making observations based on what is clearly visible to anyone driving through a town is racist? Racism is the LEAST of our problems. Ignorance and the process of forcing it upon others will have become the main problem.

Ignoring things like this and pretending it doesn't even exist ..while patting each other on the back and telling everyone at parties how one gave $5 to this cause or that or wrote a letter to a Congressman to whine about an issue is precisely WHY these problems still exist in 2013. We can't even start with education if HONESTY needs checked at the door of political correctness.