Georgia High school still holding segregated proms

A group of high school students in Wilcox County High School, GA., are taking a stand against their school's practice of holding racially-segregated proms by organizing the first-ever integrated prom in the school's history.

Stephanie Sinnot, Mareshia Rucker, Quanesha Wallace, and Keela Bloodworth are lifelong friends, who say they do everything together. Stephanie and Keela are white; Mareshia and Quanesha are black, which means that they would not have been able to attend prom together, they told WSAV

"We are all friends," Stephanie told WSAV. "That's just kind of not right that we can't go to prom together."

The school holds separate proms for white and non-white students. Homecoming is also normally segregated, with separate courts for each race.

If a student attempted to cross the segregation divide "They would probably have the police come out there and escort them off the premises," said Keela.

Mail Online reports that the school has not broken any civil rights laws because it doesn't actually sponsor the segregated prom dances - or any prom dance, for that matter. Instead, parents and students are responsible for organizing and funding the private events.

The Wilcox County schools website does not list a prom in its calendar of events, nor is the controversy referenced in their "School News" section.

In the video above, the students report that there has been opposition to their plans. Keela says "I put up posters for the "Integrated Prom" and we've had people ripping them down at the school."

Quanesha describes the reactions that she has met with in response to the integrated prom: "We need to stick with the tradition. This is a traditional thing we don't need to change and stuff like that, but why? No one can answer my question."

Rochelle City Councilman Wayne McGuinty told Fox 24 that the Wilcox County High School's segregated prom is not an accurate representation of his community.

"I think it's more of the personal opinions of those involved," said McGuinty. "I don't think there is an effort made to keep black kids out of the white prom and to keep white kids out of the black prom."

WSAV reports that there will still be two proms this year. The students said that when they pushed for one prom, the school offered a resolution to permit an integrated prom that would allow all students to attend but not stop segregated proms.

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Insomniac said:

This is definitely a parents issue.. Grandparents pass down ignorant views to their children, then the children have children and the grandkids are now in a new generation.. Come on Georgia.. I thought I really hated Georgia before, but come on! We live in 2013 now. 2013!

This is just sad..

Really is no different from the 'homosexuals are ruining marriage' thing.

It's been almost a hundred years since the whole slavery thing. When's it gonna stop? Quit being racist.

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Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal (R) has refused through a spokesperson to endorse one town's first-ever integrated high school prom, saying that he would rather not take sides on the issue. According to Atlanta's WMAZ Channel 13, politicians from both parties have stated their support for black and white students from Wilcox, Georgia, but Deal declined to join them.

Raw Story spoke to activist Bryan Long of the progressive group Better Georgia, whose group has asked Georgia elected officials "to publicly support the students of Wilcox County who are fighting to end a 'separate-but-equal' high school prom."

"We thought it would be nice if our elected officials would support these students," said Long. "They're taking a great stand in their community. We thought that officials all across the state should send a message to the nation that we've moved beyond the racial divisions of the '50s, '60s and '70s."



He added, "We were surprised to read that the governor's spokesperson said that he wouldn't be 'taking sides' on this issue. I didn't know that there were sides to take."

Deal spokesperson Brian Robinson told WMAZ on Thursday that Deal is refusing to endorse the integrated prom because of Better Georgia's bipartisan initiative.

"This is a leftist front group for the state Democratic party and we're not going to lend a hand to their silly publicity stunt," wrote Robinson.

"The kids want to have an integrated prom," said Better Georgia's Long. "It's the 21st Century, Gov. Deal. Get with it."

"The fact that we even have segregated proms in Georgia in 2013 is shocking all buy itself," he said, "but to have a governor say that he doesn't want to support the students who are trying to change that horrible tradition? That's just cowardly."

"We really didn't think this was going to be a divisive issue," he concluded. "Plenty of Republicans have already come out to support the kids. So, for the governor, who's supposedly an opinion leader in the state to just say, 'I'll sit this one out,' well…I didn't think that was possible."

Wilcox High School was integrated decades ago, but parents have put up their own money for annual private parties rather than have an integrated prom. Students created a Facebook page dedicated to hosting an integrated dance and said they were "embarrassed" that no one had done it before.

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