Lord help me...I really had no idea this kind of separation even still existed. This is just fucking sad and pathetic and I now long to return to those by-gone, halcyon days of ignorance.

Georgians Plan Whites-Only Prom Party

By ELLIOTT MINOR

ALBANY, Ga. (AP) - 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.'''

05/01/03 14:24

� Copyright The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained In this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

last / next



~~~~~~~~~~~peace, love and smooches~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Don't know why you'd wanna, but on the off-chance you may feel tempted to steal any of my words and claim them as your own, please be advised: All material
Copyright 2002-2005, Howl-at-the-Moon Words



***DISCLAIMER: These are my thoughts and my thoughts alone. If you know me in my "real life" off the net and have come across this page purely by accident, please keep in mind that you were not invited here and I would suggest you leave this page now. However, should you choose not to do so, please be warned that reading my thoughts here is not an invitation to discuss them off-line. You may discover things you do not know about me and may not like very much. Such is life. Again, this is MY space and I will use it as I see fit. If you are offended by anything here, well that's pretty much your own fault at this point. I say all of this with love, of course, but there it is.