JUST CURIOUS: Are Segregated Prom Nights Acceptable?

By Nazneen Patel May 26, 2009 2:49 pm

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Gillian Laub for The New York Times

Many readers of NewsOne and Just Curious complain that, often, we are fear-mongering; that, somehow, by bringing attention to things that are curiously offensive, we are further entrenching ourselves in the stereotypes that hold our communities back.

I wonder what some of you have to say about this story. This type of racism is an ugly vestige of things that many of you think we’ve somehow transcended because we put a Black man in office. Such is not the case, clearly.

To be sure, it is NOT the attention we bring to stories like these that is holding us back. It is the reality of the stories themselves.

Take a look. And let me hear your thoughts.

From NYTimes.com:

About now, high-school seniors everywhere slip into a glorious sort of limbo. Waiting out the final weeks of the school year, they begin rightfully to revel in the shared thrill of moving on. It is no different in south-central Georgia’s Montgomery County, made up of a few small towns set between fields of wire grass and sweet onion. The music is turned up. Homework languishes. The future looms large. But for the 54 students in the class of 2009 at Montgomery County High School, so, too, does the past. On May 1 – a balmy Friday evening – the white students held their senior prom.

And the following night – a balmy Saturday – the black students had theirs.

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  • 6-27-2009 3:34 am

    People wake up we need to be worried about our future than segregation at a prom.Black people so what the white parents don’t want their kids to jam with yours.Get over it.They are going to fight with teeth and nails to keep it from happening.And after all the bull s**t their daughters will pop up pregnant with a black baby.Then everything they fought for blows up in their faces

  • 6-17-2009 1:30 pm

    When will Black people stop trying to force themselves on White people, as if they need their acceptance. They ain’t nobody compared to the rest of us. If they were, they wouldn’t spend so much time putting themselves first, while ridiculing all of God’s tribes. All of us want the same things in life, and that is to be happy, and live and let live.

    The White Supremacy System we all live under is what Black people should be worrying about; if they were truly concerned about fighting racism. Not some damn segregated high school prom.

    This White Supremacy system is based on racism, and is a belief system that is practiced throughout the World by those in Power. This system that we live under does not care about people of color. It is used to rule all colors of the earth, as it has done since it was created, and put into affect.

    Wake up People!! Knowledge is Power. Read, read, read, and please do some history research, and go back further than MLK.

    Here’s one, study the crusades of the Roman Empire. Study Jesus as a gnostic, because he sure wasn’t a Christian….seek and you will find.

  • 6-16-2009 11:57 pm

    You ignorant darkies (an Uncle Ruckus term I use to refer to pernicious ignorance, asshattery, willfully stupid black people small b to denote their lesser status among intelligent blacks in our society) stick to reading and commenting about the rapper stories, thats the only time your relevant. Otherwise STFU. Stay out of grown folks conversations.

  • 6-3-2009 5:46 pm

    i grew up in the south and it is difficult to explain why things are the way they are there…both groups use the other as scapegoats and that causes the cycle of hate to flourish..but as bad as things are there not as bad as they were we must remember there is only one race human

  • 6-2-2009 10:39 pm

    are you all serious with these post? and great question, what prom did the hispanics go to. this may not deprived all, but it did deprive and discourage the students that have friends of a different skin tone. and when the hell will WE emphasize the truth, RACE HAS NEVER BEEN A COLOR-HUMAN IS OUR RACE

  • 6-2-2009 5:59 pm

    In all seriousness, who honestly cares?… most blacks don’t like whites, white culture, or anything that comes from them anyway; black america – like anyone else – just want to be able to say they have the nicest things, a coveted history; the most epic struggle; happiest kids; most power, success etc. The black students are upset because they will get media attention out of it (along with a scandalously written and condescendingly biased article). I don’t for a second believe that the students would be so docile and “sad” were they not under media scrutiny… it’s just a pity-act. If the “black only” prom were better organized, held at the Marriot, during a white-only one poorly organized in a warehouse then any proud black wouldn’t complain about being apart from their oh-so-dear-white-friends who deem them enough of a friend to shake their hand in public. Frankly, the rejected black students come off as sycophantic “Uncle Toms”. Look at all the black events/institutions in our country that exclude other people and cultures. Do the excluded people care? – No.

    Does a normal man harass and chase a woman just because she isn’t interested in him? No, it would unduely elevate her. He instead brushes it off as her loss and looks elsewhere for love.

    This prom question is just a case of have’s and have-nots. If said black students put together something desirable, then they could do the segregating for a change. One may coin the phrase “get your own sh*t”. Now assemble a more desirable event without patronising elements of white, western culture (i.e. the concept or title of “prom”) and segregate your event. Wait and see how many whites get upset, just don’t hold your breath.

  • 6-1-2009 7:13 am

    I’m more offended by the tacky azz clothes than a racist red-neck calling them “n****rs”. Why can’t we act,dress and look the part of going somewhere special and to partake in a special moment? I realize that women have this thing where they want to stand out and NOT be like anyone else,but guys seldom have those hang-ups. ..so why do some of them look like they just stepped from the early 80’s and some look like they are going dancing at the white house? Those females …well I ain’t going there. On second thought,why would some females knowing they are 50 pounds overweight insist on wearing short shyt? NOBODY (including you)wanna see your lack of not giving a damn about your body. As far as the “racist aspect” of the story,THIS IS AMERICA! It has been this way since forever and you people want it to change when you yourselves get torqued by stories like this. The only thing you can do is worry about YOUR lives and not what anyone else think of you as. We have a Black President and people call HIM “n****r” too.(just not to his face)(the same thing your co-workers call you)(just not to your face)

  • 5-31-2009 12:43 am

    So if a black lady loved her white high school sweetheart he could not come? If your going to be a racist then you can not allow this happy inlove couple… I feel like I went back in time 50 years. Maybe this sould be a romeo Julisha movie and they end up commiting suicide after an angry group of black racists try to keep them apart.

  • 5-31-2009 12:32 am

    would it be racist if a group of white people had a prom and no blacks, latin or asian people were invited?

    The smallest minority on the earth is the individual. When you take away the rights of the individual you can not claim to help any minority.

  • 5-30-2009 12:06 pm

    So… what prom do the hispanic students go to?

  • 5-30-2009 11:52 am

    Lol@she keeps saying N****R… with the black guy sitting there…. akward

  • 5-29-2009 9:56 am

    ARE THEY SERIOUS? This is the dumbest thing i’ve ever heard. So what, if they wanna have their own prom, so be it. Who likes the smell of wet dog anyways? I really wouldn’t care. When I was in high school, most of my friend were black anyways….my date was asian though (yeah, Asian…I felt bad for him). I wouldn’t care…I say let them have their own prom….at least we don’t have to listen to that gay azz music like brittney spears and coldplay and the rest of that crap.

  • 5-29-2009 12:08 am

    LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO@ THE YOUTUBE VIDEO!!!!!111

  • 5-29-2009 12:04 am

    AND IF RACIST PEOPLE STILL FEEL THEY SHOULD BE SEPARATE, THEN AS BLACKS WHEN WE ARE SEPARATED, WE NEED TO WORK TO BE THE BEST!

  • 5-29-2009 12:02 am

    IN MY OPINION, SINCE WE HAVE A BLACK PRESIDENT, THINGS MIGHT GET WORSE ON BEHALF OF THOSE THAT AREEE RACIST! LOL THOSE THAT ARE RACIST, MIGHT TRY TO DO EVERYTHING IN THEIR POWER TO KEEP BLACKS DOWN WHICH IS CRAZY! I’M NOT RACIST BUT I LOVE WHO I AM! THEREFORE, “BLACK POWER!!!!!”

  • 5-28-2009 5:10 pm

    It seems that it was the parents who had the problem and not the students. Those who had the problem are racist are scared. But I hope the students enjoyed themselves. Racism never went away.

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