http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18034102/?GT1=9246
As of April 10, 2007, Turner County High School in Georgia held its first ever non-segregated prom. It has been a tradition at this small high school in a modest town of 4,000 people to throw separate but equal proms for both African American and white students. This last year, seniors at Turner County High decided that they wanted to break tradition. They became the first class at the school to throw an “everyone is invited” prom celebration. Both blacks and whites showed up at the scene, even though both the blacks and whites had there own close-knit cliques. First year principal Chad Stone told the students after hearing there request that if they really wanted an all-school prom that he would do it right.
Our country was built on the oppression of minorities and the privilege of the majority. Race and ethnicity have been in a constant struggle to bring equality to everyone. This school which was instilled with the qualities of a nation built on race, but they are trying there best to make up for lost time. Ever since the Civil Rights Movement, our nation has strived to reduce the gaps in privilege and the amount of oppression between black and white individuals. This school represents the ideas and hopes of everyone. We all would like a society that is does not even consider race, but the roots of oppression and stereotypes lie deep within our society. Our negative tradition of seeing only in black and white will be much harder to break than Turner County High School’s prom decisions. As junior student James Hall said “But it’s time for a change.” While may only be referring to the small controversy in a small town, his words hold true in the most controversial of ideas ever. It is time for change. It is time for equal rights to be given to everyone regardless of age, race, or sexual orientation.
The class officers, which include two African Americans and two whites, chose the theme for their tradition breaking dance. They selected: Breakaway. This word represents the need in our society to stop and realize our differences but instead of acting on them in a negative or violent manner, we need to accept it and get over it. We need to breakaway from the stereotypes that we have for each other. People need to realize that although we may look different, in this country we are all considered one ethnicity. We are Americans. While living in this society, our differences need to be put in the back seat, as we are no longer considered black, white, Asian, Hispanic, or anything else. We are all one race. Even science is catching up with this idea. Science has recently proved that there is no biological basis for race. New York Times writer Charles Petit briefly explains sciences new discovery saying, “…the very concept of race is bogus and has no basis in biology, according to most scientists” (Petit, 1998). This message has apparently been spread to Turner County High School, as they are going along with science. They don’t seem to care that history has separated blacks from whites. All they care about is that there friends and fellow students get to celebrate together, as one. (545)
3 comments:
Thanks for reviewing this article in your blog, it was nice and refreshing to finally be able to read about something positive that was done to address the issue of racial segregation in our modern society. I found it amazing how their school leaders were made up of two black students and two white students, and they somehow found the common ground between themselves... enough to shatter a school tradition dealing with a very serious issue. I was also pleased with how the man in charge of the prom openly accepted their proposal, even though it had been school tradition for many years, he saw the right in what they were attempting to do and made it happen. This is the type of attitude that the world needs to adopt, that we need to see the other skin tone as a mirror image of ourselves and be "colorblind" so to speak. Clever title and nice review, great job (158).
I found an article on this subject and wrote on it as well. I believe it is good that they are finally are having a prom that both black students and white students can attend. I also like a few students had enough courage and to stand up and say these two proms are not right and that they should only have one. I find it weird though that it took this long to do make this happen though. (79)
Wow. When I was reading your article I had stop and re-read what the date was when this first interracial prom was being held. I couldn’t believe that there was still places in the country that actually enforced segregation in any way. I thought it was illegal to do so, but I guess in some small rural places, old habits die hard; as well as small minds.
My sister moved to Atlanta, Georgia a year ago, and I had the opportunity to visit her there a month ago. I loved Atlanta, it was beautiful and warm, and I had a great time. One thing I noticed, when we went to the Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Hall, we were the only white people walking throughout the place. We were there for something like 3-4 hours, and we saw only a handful of other white people. But that was that was total of racial oddities that I was aware of.
Once the issue of Mike Vic erupted on the news, (the football player arrested for dog fighting on his property) my sister exclaimed to me in a conversation that it helped her make up her mind that they were not going to raise their children in the south. When I asked her what Mike Vic’s case had to do with living in Atlanta, she explained that people- both white and black, were making his arrest out to be a race issue. I couldn’t believe it. His arrest obviously has nothing to do with his race, people at my sisters work of white color end up making remarks about his being a black man and all … like it was expected of him. Then the co-workers who are black, claim white men have been pardoned and dismissed in bigger animal brutality cases, and that he was indicted for the reason of his being black.
I could not believe people were able to put a racial spin on the case. I guess I have always lived in areas that were not small-town in thinking, or racist, because it is so hard for me to imagine having separate proms because of skin color in the year 2007. This must be good example people letting themselves off the hook because the classes in years past just took the tradition of separate proms to be the way things were. It took the entire of life of the school for an integrated prom to be shared by it’s students. That’s sad. (414)
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