In Georgia, Segregation Endures On Prom Night

[RFKHumphreyObama]

New York Times
By SARA CORBETT
Published: May 21, 2009
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
<snip>

Students of both races say that interracial friendships are common at Montgomery County High School. Black and white students also date one another, though often out of sight of judgmental parents. “Most of the students do want to have a prom together,” says Terra Fountain, a white 18-year-old who graduated from Montgomery County High School last year and is now living with her black boyfriend. “But it’s the white parents who say no. … They’re like, if you’re going with the black people, I’m not going to pay for it.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/24/magazine/24prom-t.html?ref=us

[rateyes]

1. It's not just Montgomery County. Hell, the state has TWO state fairs.

While it is unofficially so (not called that, just practiced that way) the "White State Fair" is in Perry. (hometown of the Governor), and the "Black State Fair" is in Macon. Guess which of the two sites has the better facilities.

[DFW]

2. Obama should make it apoint to attend one of the black proms

Make it well-known in advance. Then see if the white parents are still for
the segregated prom.

(If so, then I guess they need to be written off until the next generation)

[mzteris]

4. nah - the white prom, too -

see if the parents have the balls to tell him that he's not allowed. . .

[DFW]

5. Exactly

They will either have to say that the sitting President of the United States is not welcome at their prom, or look stupid trying to say why Obama is OK but other blacks aren't. Wanna bet they'll figure out something?

[ProgressiveProfessor]

3. Its a mutual choice...not just white racism...in some cases

Its not nearly as binary as some would portray. The right answer is a school sponsored prom. In some areas it has happened. There are also some colleges with multiple graduations as well.