The blog & portfolio of Matthew J. Rogers

Students attend school’s first integrated prom

April 24, 2007

I like to think that as I get older, although remaining mostly idealistic, I’m not as naive as I used to be. When I first read the above headline on CNN.com, many things went through my head. “What do they mean by integrated? Was there a bunch of little proms and now there’s one uber-prom? Are they maybe now including freshman and sophomores? Why is this news?” Even after clicking on the link and reading the story highlights at the top, I didn’t totally get it:

- “Students of Turner County [Georgia] High School voted to have school-sponsored prom
- In the past, parents have organized private, segregated dances

“What, the parents used to put on their own proms and only invite the ‘cool’ people or something? Like the jocks and cheerleaders?” Then I read the first line of the story:

Students of Turner County High School started what they hope will become a new tradition: Black and white students attended the prom together for the first time on Saturday.

You have got to be f#%@ing kidding me.

What year is this? The context of that headline — a story in the here and now — totally caught me off guard, hence my complete misunderstanding of what the subject of the article could possibly be. That would have made sense had I seen it in a newspaper clipping from, oh, almost 40 years ago. But just now? No wonder this country is so screwed up. It gets even better with a (white) student referring to a prom she attended in 2001:

“There was not anybody that I can remember that was black,” she said. “The white people have theirs, and the black people have theirs. It’s nothing racial at all.“

But the crowning jewel is really the parents. Bless these kids, most of them seem to be all for the integrated prom, but some of them actually weren’t allowed to go because their parents “don’t agree with being with the colored people”. Can you imagine those kids having to explain to their date/friend/future family and children that they couldn’t go to their senior prom because their elitist white southern parents were so racist they couldn’t bear the thought of their children at a party in the same room as blacks…in 2007?? Not that that sick mentality was ever acceptable to begin with, but I guess the whole point of this post is that I can’t believe that racism can still be so blatant, even in the south. I guess they got around the desegregation laws by throwing them as private parties.

I bet those asshole parents call themselves Christians too. They’re the ones with the “family values”. They’re also the ones that vote all these “family values” politicians we have into office. Awesome. I think I need to go be sick now.

Read the story on CNN.com.

8 comments ›
Posted in Miscellaneous Tags: ,

Similar posts

8 comments

  • Jonathan April 24th, 2007 at 2:08 am

    Interesting article, but I disagree with your closing statements of making such a large ignorant blanket statement and blaming it on “Christians” and “family” oriented citizens. I find this to be completely the opposite. It was the “white Christians” who were missionaries and would actually give respect to the blacks and minorities throughout history, not only overseas but domestically as well. It is and was the Christians who believe that all races stem from Adam, therefore realizing that different physical appearances are normal. It is the agnostics and evolutionistists that have created the issue of racial segregation, as evolution teaches the supremity of whites.

    If it were not for leaders with values, Canada and the US would be in much worse shape. Values not based upon the Bible create a right and wrong that is based on a changing standard which falls to the lowest common denominator.

    - Jonathan

  • Chris April 24th, 2007 at 7:46 am

    Absolutely insane. I bet these people are also the ones who can’t understand why so many other countries have hateful feelings towards the U.S.

  • Jonathan April 25th, 2007 at 1:44 am

    Wow…. Can’t believe you deleted my comment… Although, I doubt this will ever be shown, as it begs the question of what my comment is and makes people realize you deleted it.

  • Matthew April 25th, 2007 at 1:46 am

    Jonathan: I didn’t delete your comment, I just hadn’t approved it yet. I have to approve all new posters because I get about 200 spam comments a day. Sometimes takes a bit to sort out, and yours must have gotten lost in my inbox for a bit :)

  • Matthew April 25th, 2007 at 1:49 am

    Oh, and in case you misunderstood me, I am a Christian. I should have been more clear that the comment was more a continuation of a perpetual burr of mine, that there are a lot of very conservative Christians that I find to be horribly hypocritical. In my defense, my comments are far from ignorant. Being active in the church for my whole life, I’ve met pretty much every stripe of Christian. I know all the types, and I’m well versed in Christians’ roles in history.

    I wasn’t calling Christians bad. I was denoting those particular people who can’t treat everyone equally but still call themselves “Christian” as elitist hypocritical idiots whose behavior provides ammunition for atheists against people of faith. Those are the same people who voted folks like Strom Thurmond into office, as well as most of the corrupt politicians of the last decade. I’m totally for family values and social responsibility. I just don’t think these people have any.

  • Jonathan April 25th, 2007 at 4:54 am

    Oh ok, sorry about jumping the gun there. I feel quite embarrased, lol.

    I completely agree that there are a lot of people that “CALL themselves Christians” but have no hold to the actual religious faith. To go with your comment, it honestly wouldnt surprise me if the parents against integration do CALL themselves Christians… Stupid as it is.

    I dont know much about US presidents but from what I quickly read on Wikipedia, what was the negative of Strom Thurmond?? Wasn’t he against racial segregation?

    - Jonathan

  • Matthew April 25th, 2007 at 1:13 pm

    Thurmond did later support integration once the public demanded it, but his earliest behavior tells the story of how he really felt:

    “Thurmond supported racial segregation with the longest filibuster ever conducted by a single Senator on the Senate floor, speaking for 24 hours and 18 minutes in an unsuccessful attempt to derail the Civil Rights Act of 1957. Southern Senators, who had agreed as part of a compromise not to filibuster this bill, were upset with Thurmond because they thought his solo filibuster made them look bad to their constituents.”

    He’s just my favorite example of that type of stuff. I would also call to mind all the recent scandals with Delay and other “family values” politicians who run on platforms of faith and morals, but those have been mostly money related.

  • Gina June 4th, 2007 at 8:18 pm

    Hey Matt, I also noted that they still had their “separate” proms as well. You gotta love it!!!! Unbelievable.

Leave a comment