Let’s move away from the actual incident that inspired this thread, for a moment. Let me tell you about a real-life high school I know of, and let people offer their takes.
My ex-wife is a Hispanic American, and grew up in a small town in South Texas. I’ve visited this town many times, and the local poulation is ABOUT 48% white, 48% Hispanic, and 4% black. Now, don’t get the wrong idea- while this town has its share of stereotypical rednecks, there are VERY few real bigots. People of all races, creeds and colors are perfectly cordial and friendly toward one another. There’s no Ku Klux Klan, there’s no obscene graffiti demeaning any ethnic group, there are no “We Don’t Serve Dogs or Mexicans” signs in stores or restaurants. Race relations are, superficially, just fine. And yet…
As my ex described it, when she was going to high school in the late 70s and early 80s, there were “white” tables and “brown” tables in the cafeteria at lunchtime. When there were class trips, there was always a “white” bus and a “brown” bus. Oh, it’s NOT that school administrators segregated the kids! Just the opposite! Mexican kids just naturally clustered together and white kids did the same. It’s NOT that white kids hated Mexicans or vice versa. It’s more that each group wanted to hang out with the kids they related to, the kids who understood their jokes, the ones who played the same music on their boomboxes (the white kids in those days all listened to country music, while the Mexicans were all headbangers who listened to Iron Maiden, the Scorpions and Judas Priest).
Oh, there WERE white kids with Mexican friends, and nobody gave them a hard time about it. There was no stigma to hanging out with Mexicans- it just didn’t happen all that often, because even in the same small town, people often seemed to be living in very different worlds.
I went to my ex’s 10th year high school reunion, and I could see that not much had changed. Again, there was NO hostility. Everybody, white and brown, seemed very nice. But there were still white tables and brown tables, and very rarely did the twain meet. And to make things a little worse, the band was hired by one of the white female alumni, so naturally, we got to hear almost nothing but country music all night! (I’m as white as they come, but I was comiserating with the Mexicans over the music all night!)
Now, as far as I know, this town’s high school never planned or sponsored segregated events. Their proms were always integrated… which meant that, even if they hired a band or DJ who priomised to play both country AND hard rock, at least half the attendees would be bored silly for a full half of the evening.
Now, nobody ever rebelled and said, “It’s not much fun to sit around listening to music we hate. Whaddya say we have our own big bash somewhere else? We can play our Willie Nelson, they can play their AC/DC, and we can all be happy for a change.” But it COULD have happened, very easily. It could still happen today in a LOT of places.
On one hand, I think it’s a shame. On the other hand, there’s a LOT more to it than simple racism. And yet, if it had happened, I know exactly how it would have been presented in the press: “Whites Want Segregated Prom,” or “Whites Don’t Want Mexicans at Their Prom.”
I don’t doubt that there are still bigots who just hate blacks and don’t want to associate with them in any way. But more often, what you’ve got are nice kids of different races who don’t HATE anybody… but who don’t have much in common and don’t feel like hanging out together.
That’s sad, but it’s not simple racism, and it’s not easy to fight.
