I would still find that ridiculous. No student body should be that divided that reasonable compromises can’t be made. Blacks and whites can digest the same watered-down fruit punch and finger sandwiches. And pop music nowadays is as racially crossed-over as it can get. Even it wasn’t, what DJ worth his salt can’t assemble a diverse mix of songs? The DJ at my prom played Top 40 songs to appeal to everyone (and those kids who were too cool for Top 40 didn’t bother showing up).
Wait, I do remember one funny moment when the DJ played “Sweet Home Alabama” by request. All the black kids left the dancefloor (saying “HELLS NAW!”) and all the white kids enthusiastically took their place. If we had had a segregated prom, we wouldn’t have had funny memories like that one.
Just to play devil’s advocate, proms are a little like weddings in that people aren’t really much for compromise - they want the experience just so. If I leave the city of Austin and head out into some rural communities, you’ll find that the majority (typically White) would like a prom with plenty of boot scootin’ and other country-type touches. The minority (typically Black) want to hear some Keyshia Cole and Li’l Wayne. The compromise DJ is rarely successful… he or she usually tokenizes one group’s choice. It’s hard to be that broad as a DJ.
Personally, as long as the majority prom makes an effort to be inclusive to those outside of the majority, I think I’m not virulently opposed to another prom that highlights the music and community that is typically left out of the decision making process. For instance, at a predominantly White school where there are few Black kids in many of the clubs and organizations that makes one popular, what chance does a Black kid have of being elected prom king or queen?
It’s not that different from the Black graduation ceremonies I attended in undergrad and grad school. We all went to the big assed graduation, but it was nice to be at a smaller, more intimate event where your community and your friends were the central focus. We had a Latino grad ceremony, which I attended once - really nice. And there were White folks at both events.
I’d need to know more about the context… it makes me a little uneasy, but I can see how it might be a sensible arrangement, and of course, I would want both proms to be open to all students.
Did you watch the video clip? Not to put too fine a point on it, but the context seems to be, ‘‘We don’t want those n****** fucking around with our white children.’’
Morgan Freeman is great. ‘‘I live here. I think it is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard of.’’ His expression says, ‘‘C’mon people, this is objectively asinine.’’
The thing that bothers me the most is that I grew up in the Midwest and could totally see my high school doing something like that. We had 1.5 black kids at our school and one of them actually was quite popular and at one point was in fact voted homecoming king or prom king or something like that. Once he carried around a coffee can asking for donations to the United Negro Lunch Fund. It was funny but sort of sad at the same time. He was at once accepting of and defined by his existence as the only black kid we had.
But that was one black dude. Nobody is threatened by one black dude, especially if he’s an exceptionally smart and pleasant and funny student. But if there were 50 black kids, our community would have panicked and launched into the same sort of cultural divide demonstrated in Mississippi. I know that because I lived not twenty-five minutes from my birth town, where the white/black population is more evenly divided, with predictably disgusting results. I don’t know anything about a segregated prom, but both my white Aunt and Uncle were in a constant battle with their parents over perceived black influence in their lives. My grandparents are objectively racist, and they’re not even all that racist compared to the average person where I grew up. They produced children obsessed with rap music and black culture who have a distaste for black people.
I’m not even trying to say it’s one-sided segregation either. There are just as many black people who hate white people, or black people who hate Latinos, or whatever. And it doesn’t even have to be hate that segregates people. Sometimes it’s just fear of stepping outside your comfort zone. Supposedly my alma mater is a super liberal and multicultural international haven, yet there is still self-segregation among races on all sides. Tables full of blacks-only, tables full of whites-only, not because they’re racist but because they are just more comfortable sticking with what’s familiar to them. They’ve done studies and nowadays white folks have been shown to avoid black people out of fear they will do something that is perceived as racist. We’ve got problems. We’re not a melting pot, not even a fruit salad–more like fruit displayed on one of those divided serving platters.
Meh, I’d move if I lived in such a backwater shithole. Oh, the segregation thing sucks too. But seriously, just staying in town and continuing to participate in these shenanigans dignifies them. I don’t see this in 2008 the same way as I would have in 1958. It doesn’t seem to me as much one group oppressing another as two sides just being dumbfucks. More East Vs. West, Montague Vs. Capulet, Star-Bellied Vs. No Stars On Their Bellies. Idiots.
And the ones worth knowing will, just as soon as they can. There are places in the world where people are from and places where people live. Anywhere that fucking backwards is one of the former and never the latter.
You sort of get the impression Morgan Freeman sees it that way too. If you look at those kids in the video clip, they seem to vaguely grasp that the whole thing is inherently stupid. They just don’t know any other way to be.
I’m just replying to this post so I can say: Sneetch equality NOW!
