Segregated Proms

May 28, 2009

Kara Powell
Kara Powell

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I guess I’m still a bit naive about the racial divide here in the U.S. I had no idea that there was still such a thing as segregated Senior Proms but the New York Times ran an article this weekend that I can’t stop thinking about.

I don’t know if I’m more sad or more mad. Note the influence of parents in maintaining the segregated proms.

A good reminder that when it comes to justice, we can’t just work with teenagers. We need to invite their parents into the justice journey also.

©2009 Fuller Youth Institute

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  • http://detentionslip.org hall monitor

    Check out http://detentionslip.org for an AWESOME video trying to end segregated proms!

  • http://www.fulleryouthinstitute.org Brad Griffin

    So folks might want to watch the NY Times interactive feature first: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/05/24/magazine/dividedproms-audioss/index.html

    I was nauseated. But this is reality. Coming from the South myself, I still had no idea that this happened.

  • Kara Powell

    I’ve heard from other youth workers in the last few days that segregated proms are happening in Texas and Tennessee also. I still can’t believe it.

  • James King

    This issue should be taken to The United States Supreme Court so this moral issue can be settled.

  • Dee Anne

    I am white and live in south Texas. My boyfriend is black and lives in Georgia but was raised in Mississippi. When he mentioned that his senior prom was segregated in about the year 1982 or 83 I could not believe it. I started to think that maybe that was just a “Mississippi thing”…that something like that would not have happened in TX (just because it didnt seem that way to me..seemed so strange.)

    Well a movie came on tv based on a true story in Louisiana and it said it was “present day.” It was about a how a local high school’s prom being segregated. It blew my mind to find out this is still going on and not only in Mississipi. So I started doing searches on the web to see if this kind of thing goes on in TX also. It looks as if it had been going on in 2009 and may still be.

    I dont understand how this can be. I thought we were more civilized than that. This is absolutely crazy and has to be stopped.

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