ALBANY, Ga. - Gerica McCrary said she cried when she heard about the decision to hold a separate white-only prom only a year after she helped bring black and white students together in her rural high school's first integrated prom.

Many white students at Taylor County High School, in the small town of Butler, said they plan to attend next week's mixed prom, but a small number of whites said they also wanted a private party.

Juniors are charged with 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 about 80 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.

After school integration, separate proms were common in the rural South. Taylor County was among the last to cling to the practice.

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.''

The school has 439 students, 232 of them black. McCrary, who is black, 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.

``I would have liked to see it together this year,'' said Gerard Latimore, a black junior class president who helped organize this year's integrated prom night. ``My class would have, too. It just didn't happen this year.''

Gerard's mother, Glenda Latimore, a 1972 graduate, attended a segregated prom. She said relatives in Philadelphia and New Jersey laugh when they read about Taylor County's prom.

``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 added. ``It didn't kill me, so I tell my son, 'Just go to the prom and have fun. Don't come out hating anyone.'''


05/02/03 18:11 EDT

freedom of assembly and stupidity

As long as tax dollars arn't paying for it let them have any kind of prom they want.

WTF

I didnt say I disagreed with it. I agree that if the party is privately funded they can invite or not invite whoever they want. If they want to be "racist" let them.

I won't claim to be an expert on this topic, but I do know there is a lot more to the story than what was printed in the article. A buddy at work was talking about this the other day and how the papers would twist the facts around. Hmmmm, seems he was right.


ByteTheBullet  (-:

I was just quoting your post to show the highlighted part of the article.  I didn't intend to imply anything.  I was just saying since it's privatly funded it's their choice, not mine.

I think this is, like Aimless said, shamefull.  

sorry for any confusion.

This is not a trend started by white students. A year or so ago I saw a news magazine show discussing the very opposite of this story. The black students refused to have proms with the white students and held seperate functions. Seems when the white students do it they are racists.

There was a thread about this a few days ago.

Making the prom a private rather than school sanctioned event. Meaning they can invite or not invite anyone they want.

As much as I loath the idea of any sort of even such as this, if it's private money on private property, it's their choice to do so.

No one said the bill of rights outlaws stupidty

End of story.

What's next? Forced racial [s]quotas[/s] diversity on slumber parties?