Prom is still segregated at Wilcox County High School GA
When I heard this being announced on talk radio, my jaw nearly hit the floor. (shaking my head) In this day and age a segregated prom. As we all know, racism is still alive and kicking, but I never would have thought that there would ever be a prom for blacks and a prom for whites.
Wilcox County High School in Rochelle, GA, (figures… Georgia) has been holding separate proms for “some time now.” How long “some time” is was not stated, but sounds like the proms have always been segregated as it has apparently been this schools tradition.
This year, however, a group of black and white teens who have been friends for years are fighting for a fully integrated prom. But it hasn’t been easy. Stephanie Sinnot, one of the students, stated:
We are all friends. That’s just kind of not right that we can’t go to prom together.
When the students asked the Board of Education for a fully integrated prom, the board was ecstatic… but not so with all the parents and other students. You see, the proms at Wilcox County High School are not funded by or held at the school but rather put on the parents and students themselves. Many parents are obviously doing a very good job at teaching hatred and racism to their children.
No one is born racist, it is a learned behavior. No one is born hating, it is a learned behavior.
Segregated Prom Sees Black Students Escorted Out
At last year’s prom, a bi-racial student was turned away by police. By the police! This hatred and ignorance runs so deep with some of these families that they go as far as to have the police openly monitor the dance. The police are supposed to be there to make sure no one gets drunk and out of control, stop testosterone-fueled fights, and property damage. NOT to stop someone from entering because of the color of their skin! Prom is not the only segregated dance, either. So is this school’s Homecoming Dance.
Sad, oh so very very sad, pathetic, ignorant, and just completely wrong. Each and every one of these parents should be ashamed of themselves for teaching such hate and stupidity to their children. This will affect them the rest of their lives as our country is completely integrated, and has been for decades.
I have just one question…. Can we force this part of Georgia and any other like this to secede from the Union? Please?? I don’t want them to be a part of my country. There is nothing to be proud of with those parents and kids that support the segregation. Nothing at all.
Related articles
- Ga. students fight tradition of segregated proms (cbsnews.com)
- Georgia High School Students Fight For First-Ever Integrated Prom (salon.com)
- Georgia Students Want To Hold The First Integrated Prom In Their High School’s History (thinkprogress.org)
Top Posts
This problem can be solved by pre-school children in 5-10 minutes. By programmers in one hour.
Click on image to go to full problem
Motley News, Photos and Fun 
Don’t force them to secede.
Force them to live in the Bronx.
Ha!!!
As one of my favorite old, old songs from “South Pacific” says, “You’ve got to be taught”:
You’ve got to be taught
To be Afraid
Of people whose eyes
Are oddly made
And people whose skin
Is a different shade
You’ve got to be carefully taught
That’s it exactly. Sad.
So true Pied,and as my mother taught me,
People fear what they don’t understand
Hate what they fear
And kill what they hate
So be sure to try and understand those that look different from you.
You may discover they’re not all that different after all.
I agree. We’re not that different. Very sad to fear the unknown or different. It is what provides diversity and makes life more interesting. It’s wonderful to explore and learn about the unknown, even if that means a race and/or culture. But no one person nor group of people is any better than any other on this earth.
You’re surprised? I’m surprised that you’re surprised! Come on! It’s Fu*king Georgia, y’all Them there good ole boys still fly the Confederate flag over their state capitol. Just because the Civil War was lost, because slavery was tossed, because laws were passed in the 60’s guaranteeing equality, do you actually expect racism and bigotry to disappear? Not throughout most of the southland. It’s out there in the open; a widely practiced sign of southern pride.
I lived in the South for many years. It’s a bastion of ignorance…a stronghold of stupidity. There’s a church on nearly every street corner and these wonderful people profess at every opportunity that they’re good Christians. I’m always leery of people telling you they’re good (you pick the name of any religion). These people bend their religious beliefs to meet their warped imaginings. That’s why you always see a Nordic featured, blue eyed Jesus (he also spoke ‘Merican…just ask any southerner).
One day we’ll wake up and jettison the southern states from the Union (no, I know we really won’t…but it’s a nice thought), then we’ll have less opposition to laws that make sense and we will no longer have the tail wagging the dog. In doing so, we won’t get rid of all the bigots and fools in this nation, but we’ll get rid of a hell of a lot of them.
Oh, I know that racism is very alive and kicking in the south. I lived in Birmingham for two years. When I moved, I couldn’t get out of that state fast enough – and never looked back. I’m just surprised that there is still a segregated prom! If anything, I would have thought the kids would be more accepting than their jack-ass, red-neck parents. But I guess not. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree down there. So they rot.
Ok I’m from Wilcox, I went to school there, we always had the choice to have whatever kind of prom we wanted, everyone always chose to have seperate PRIVATE proms, the school had absolutely nothing to do with it. And as far as having someone turned away from the prom because she was bi-racial is completely false information, yes a lie, it was a private event in which they didn’t purchase a ticket to attend. So go ahead and hop on the band wagon with us being a bunch of southern hillbillys with the IQ level of a rock. But all these students wanted was attention and buddy they got it by the motherload and it was all started by false information and assumptions. I feel sorry for the people who donated anything based on what the media has broadcast instead of getting the truth.
Three cheers for your bravery (?) in admitting being from a place as vile as Wilcox. I would not have the courage to have done that. I have to confess, I was alarmed. At first I thought Jesus Christ! not another Arizona story. But I was releived to learn that the Wilcox in question was…stupid me…of course, in Georgia…the one in the southern part of the U.S., not the one in Russia.
Gary, old friend (not) deciding to exclude, whether black or white just ain’t Merican. It ain’t the way we do things in these here 48…ooops, I mean fifty. You are obviously an advocate of separate but equal. But there ain’t nothin’ equal about separate but equal…PRIVATE or not. Now, you’re the one that brought up about being southern hillbillies. You’re not southern hillbillies. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with hillbillies. What you are, are collectively redneck racists. Rocks may indeed have higher I.Q.’s.
Y’all have a nice day!
So how do you really feel? 😉
I am not surprised that some people still think about having racially separate events. But I am shocked and in horror that it still actually occurs – and is accepted by the locals!!! I will never make a stop in that area – and I’m sure there are many people who don’t see skin color. But the fact they tolerate it is even worse.
To the person from Wilcox… it doesn’t surprise me if the news grossly exaggerated the incident of turning away a woman who wasn’t pure white – which actually is not that common these days. But that has nothing to do with the main point of this story. It is the fact that segregated proms, dances, etc. still exist. Nothing more, nothing less. I do pity those who live there and tolerate this bigotry, even if they do not support it. Toleration is the same as supporting. Kudos to the kids who decided to put on the first segregated prom…. I hope it is a record-making event of attendance and great times.
I understand this was not put on by the school which is why I mentioned that the teachers will very pleased with the kids who wanted to end the segregation but couldn’t do anything about it. As previously mentioned, it’s the thought that this still occurs in this day and age is the shocker of the whole story.
It is incredible and sad that this sort of thing could happen ANYWHERE, let alone in the U.S.
Lord love a duck, you now have a black President, in his SECOND term, but you also still have people who judge others by the color of their skin and discriminate against them because of it. A total WTF moment for me hearing this!
I remember a quote, but not who said it “I have long since ceased to wonder that god has apparently not seen fit to distribute the gift of intelligence equally” O.K., fair enough. The south has apparently gotten more than it’s fair share who have not received their fair share of intelligence (last year it was a church, also in the south, who denied a black couple, members of the congregation to marry in the church, which has NEVER YET had a black wedding!).
If there are more than a few neanderthals in the south, I suppose it would be difficult to legislate, nor should it be, who they must invite to a party they are organizing and paying for themselves. It should, however, be more than possible legislate that no segregated event may be held in any public venue and/or that the name of a legal entity may not be used with any segregated event.
As for police who assist racists, their place is behind bars with the other animals!
It is not only the school which should be providing leadership. Where is the governor? Where is Obama himself?
Seems like the south is a dirty little problem everyone would just like to keep quiet and not address. After all, next time Obama or other U.S. officials talk to other less than democratic regimes, I imagine they might well tell the U.S. to solve it’s own problems before they start teaching others.
Maybe the heat down there boils their brains a bit too much…
Ignorance is bliss! I have lived all over the country and Georgia is the least segregated state I’ve lived in. Head up to the midwest where they still have all white areas and all black areas. Want to go to the park, if you are white you need to stay away from the black park and vice versa. How about up East? The Italians hate the Puerto Ricans and they all hate blacks. I don’t think I saw one black in the area that I was in. California and the west? Mexicans and blacks won’t even acknowledge each other and do kill each other. I guess it’s easier to bury your head and point your finger South instead of cleaning up your own backyard. Get out of your cacoon. Besides, have you stopped to think that there are more blacks in the south than there are whites? We go to school together, we work together, we hang out with each other. Yes, we do have racist but we have blacks that are racist against whites just as much as there are white racists against blacks. But they are outnumbered both outnumbered. Judging an entire group of people based on a few is prejudice and what stems from that? Racism!!!
Dear Lynn with blinders on…you are right about all areas of the country having individuals who possess biases and prejudices, but when it comes to the South racism is a regional epidemic. I too have lived in many areas of the country, but the South and an over abundance of people living there either partake in or look the other way when it comes to matters of equality.
If you are not vocal in your objections to the problem, then you are indeed a part of the problem.
In the South politicians still run for office on their thinly veiled racial bias. The entire South politically switched from being Democrats to being Republicans because of the Civil Rights Act and with them so did their white population.
Please don’t offend thinking people by trying to justify Southern racism which is a regrettable part of Georgia’s heritage, with that of individual acts of racism that do occur in other parts of the country. Pardon the expression, but you are attempting to White Wash a badly constructed fence.
Y’all are stained with the stench of racism and smell really bad!
🙂
Amazing how this billboard is in Georgia, but no other state has erected something like this: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/18/georgia-billboard-immigrants_n_3108907.html