On Saturday, a group of high school seniors in a sleepy town in rural Georgia made history.
Despite resistance from many white residents, students from Wilcox County High School attended their county’s first ever racially-integrated prom. This historic event comes as a Louisiana high school reunion invites "white alumnae only".
Up to now, Wilcox county has put on segregated prom nights and homecoming dances: one for black students and one exclusively for whites. Since the events are not paid for through the high school, but instead are privately funded by local supporters, it is legal to have separate, segregated, prom events.
 |
| Mareshia Rucker and date Arkel Bennett |
Initially, Rucker worked with two close friends until the Wilcox County Integrated Prom Committee grew to a 10-strong group of racially-mixed student organizers.
Wilcox County High School has 380 students, of whom 171 are African-American. A biracial girl who attempted to attend the homecoming dance last October was asked to leave, according to Rucker. “They told her if she didn’t leave she’d be escorted off the premises by police.”
The event was thrust into the national spotlight following the launch, in early April, of the “Integrated Prom” Facebook page to raise donations for the prom. With the Facebook page (which now has more than 27,000 fans) donations to pay for the event poured in from across the nation.
“Racism runs deep in our county,” said Rucker. “It’s as deep as trees have roots.
“We’ve had our fair share of criticism, snide remarks and ugly looks. But I know it comes with the territory.”
“It has made a lot of people realize that if you stand up for what’s right then nothing but positivity will come out of it,” says Rucker.
Turnout was high and many white students did not attend last week’s prom exclusively for white students and attended the integrated dance instead. There were limousines, ball gowns, tuxedos and disc jockeys from Texas and Atlanta.
Congratulations to the teens that took a stand and made a difference.
Related Article:
Wilcox Integrated Prom (CNN)
0 comments:
Post a Comment