Coming in 2006: The Southeast Asian Prom
Posted on April 12, 2004 @ 9:51 pm
From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Equal but separate in Lyons
By Dan Chapman (April 10, 2004)Hispanic, black and white students at Toombs County High School all will hold their own proms.
LYONS — The black kids at Toombs County High School will hold their prom at the National Guard armory next weekend. And the white kids will dance, laugh, reminisce and cry in the same building on May 7.
Toombs County High School junior Yuri Flores and Hispanic classmates will hold their own prom this year at the Silverado in Lyons.
But what about the Hispanic kids? Which party will the children of the Mexican migrant workers attend?
Neither. They’ll hold their own prom.
In what might be a first for Georgia, students from one high school will attend three separate proms. Toombs County’s dubious distinction demonstrates the evolving arithmetic of race in America, where white plus black plus brown doesn’t add up to “one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
It wasn’t supposed to be this way when Yuri Flores bought a $50 ticket to the white prom in February. She returned later that day with a white girlfriend, Jennifer Hart, who also wanted to buy a ticket. Hart says the White Prom Committee girl wanted to know if her date was white, black or Hispanic. Mexican, was the answer.
“She told me that it was a white prom — not a Mexican prom, not a black prom,” Hart says. “It made me feel mad. That’s not right. I wanted to put my fist in her face.”
Flores, too, was stunned. Hurt. Mad. And, within minutes, determined. The Hispanic/Latino Prom Committee was formed that February afternoon. The Silverado nightclub, on U.S. 1 north of Lyons, will resound May 8 with cumbia, rap, pop and reggae as Latino high school kids in Toombs County and from across east-central Georgia go to the prom.
“This is the land of freedom. It’s supposed to be the land of dreams,” says Anna Rosa Perez, a Toombs High junior with braces and aspirations for a career in Hollywood. “But it’s not equal. We just don’t want to be left out. [Our prom] will show other people if you try to achieve something, you can do good and you can do what they can do.”
A quote from a white student later in the article: “I don’t have any problems with them. We don’t really care as long as everybody gets to go to a prom. I don’t think we should make a big deal out of it. Some of them probably wanted it like that.”
Unbelievable.
Posted by Jess | Filed Under In the News |
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I saw that earlier today. It’s unbelieveable that this kind of stuff still goes on, at a PUBLIC school no less.
It’s so unbelievable that people are surprised by this kind of stuff… I mean, it blows me away that people think that just because we had a Civil Rights Movement, everything’s peachy. No one is listening to the debates about the re-segregation of the cities… maybe this will hit people square across the face.
Maybe.
Mind boggling. I was angered by the ‘whites only’ prom last year in Georgia. Was it at the same school?
What happened to MLK Jr’s “I have a dream” speech?
I guess I am too optimistic, I had always believed that new generations would find the ideas of racism and segregation anachronistic and ridiculous. I guess that isn’t necessarily the case, though.
Seth: I’m not positive, but I think it’s the same school that was in the news from a year or two ago for the segregated proms.
I thought it was a joke up until I realised that it wasn’t.
Very, very sad. Perhaps I am too optimistic, like Seth. The idea that this occurs does not surprise me, but it does leave me with the question of “What are not we not doing right?” No one ever said that once Civil Rights hit its stride that all would be set right, but how long does it take? How many more generations will see this kind of thing as acceptable?
A Gaggle Of Links
Link love and political commentary.
Can’t we all just get along? The only way to achieve unity is to come together for a truly just cause…destroying Canada.
And do away with all dancing. Have you seen those lewd hip-shaking jirations? Dancing is the devil. Dancing and Canadians.
There are so many lies in that article I don’t know where to begin….I go to Toombs County High School and yes we do have a few racist people, but you’ll find that anywhere….doesn’t it seem kinda odd that Yuri supposedly bought a ticket but Jennifer was “refused” a ticket when she told the same girl that her date was hispanic…..if that were true….then why did the girl sell a ticket to Yuri…..and our principal doesn’t help out any of the prom committies because none of our proms are school sponsored.
I think students should learn how to grow up and stop acting like they dont know stupid from ridiculous. This whole prom thing, unsupported by the staff, is bad for the staff as well as the students. Although, the staff of the school should not be so complacent. In reality, they are supporting something when they don’t respond.