Segregated/Integrated Proms

I thought the documentary “Prom Night in Mississippi” was so eye-opening. The main reason I was so shocked by the town divided by race, was because even though I am from a town that is dominantly white, I don’t feel like there are people that are totally anti-black or other minorities like some of the white parents in the video were. In my opinion, the idea of segregated proms, especially still today, is one of the stupidest things I have ever heard. The United States has a legal document entitled the Bill of Rights, explaining what rights people are entitled to, and then some white parents think that their white children should not attend a dance with black children. Ridiculous. It is ideas such as these that I truly do not understand.

If anything, the only thing I can even slightly attribute their reasoning to is to having grown up in a past generation. It seems like past generations are definitely a lot less accepting of many things, race especially. I had thought that the majority of people from my generation were very accepting of all races, but the one girl in particular from the documentary that claimed to be threatened by a black girl proved that racist parents still have the ability to instill their same views into their children. If anything, I think this is sad. I feel bad for the girl, since most likely she will always view race in such a way, and she will never get it. She will never get it through her head that all people are equal. Personally, I just cannot fathom not understanding that. Growing up, I never thought I was better than anyone for being white, if I even thought anything at all, it was simply that my skin was not the same color, and that made us look different. End of story. I feel like you have to be extremely selfish to not realize that everyone has thoughts, and feelings, and people are people. Their skin color does not make them any less human.

Pertaining to the interracial couples that attended the integrated prom, I was shocked when the one white girl’s dad said that he hopes that she and her (black) boyfriend go off to different colleges and grow apart. I felt like this was such an incredibly sad thing for a parent to say. No matter what, a parent should want not only what is in the best interest for their child, but also what makes them happy. It is preposterous for her father to think that it is best for them to slowly “grow apart” simply because he does not like the fact that his daughter is dating a black boy. If anything, I would at least like to give him credit for acknowledging that it is a selfish thing for him to say. It is still a wonder how someone realizes they are being racist, but feels no need to change their ways or beliefs. All in all, I am glad that the integrated prom was a success, saddened that a white prom was still held, and I hope that the integrated prom is still held at the Mississippi school.