"A Prom Divided" - New York Times Magazine May 21, 2009 Photographs and Interviews by Gillian Laub

Photographs and Interviews by Gillian Laub (www.gillianlaub.com)

Category:

News & Politics

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• Laub
• Gillian
• A Prom Divided
• New York Times Magazine
• Zahra Sethna
• Sara Corbett
• Prom
• Segregated Prom

[dollar12]

How despicable. It's too late to have your "white paradise" in the deep South. You forcibly imported black people and now they deserve equal rights. Yes, on everything.

[MsAsiaLina]

vivecarocks, ur a jackass.  You would look depressed too if you couldn't go to prom with your friends and you had to go to a second-rate prom.

[saddoboxing1]

@buttacudawey

Perhaps this is happening because the all mighty american "individualism" - which means freedom to be also proudly stupid, ignorant and hatemonger.

There is a certain kind of America. A White Conservative Rural Christian America totally afraid of especially black man and his black dick. Was it coincidence that NSDAP in Germany got strongest support from rural conservative protestant Prussia and weakest from industrial plural cities like Hamburg?

[MegaXfact]

Oh please, segregation is not inequality, no one was prevented from enjoying prom night. Stop bitching about inequality... it was never been, now if you mean 'with the the whites' then now it is.

Gosh, anything not 'with the whites' is considered negative, you insecure people!

[MzTJones80]

I read an article about a segregated prom in MS, where the black kids & parents were outraged; as they should have been. But here's the thing; the article made it seem as though ONLY the black kids were outraged, & the white kids were ok with it. I know plenty of whites who would NEVER go for that! All white people were not cool with this, and all black people were not outraged. I know some black girls who would welcome a segregated prom to ensure that the black guys don't bring a white girl.

[suzieshackles]

I can't believe this is happening in 2011! That's disgusting! How can you have a segregated prom in 2011. Racism started in the south.

[buttacudawey]

i grew up thinkin americans were so great black and white, but now im older i just see uglyness ignorance and stupidity.....its like a child finding out there is no santa clause...u people make me sick...

[turquoise770]

likewise (see below) the predominant narrative of the white prom takes its cues from the western european theme of the knight who arrives on his steed ( 65 mustang) to pick up his princess in white, to go to a prom where the point is not so much booty-shaking abandon(which i'm sure they do elsewhere) but to celebrate a medieval fantasy of courtiers and maidens, a mayfest of garlanded youth...

[turquoise770]

the reason blacks in the south want to have their own prom too is because they don't want to be bored w/ white music and white manners/mannerisms--a black prom, if you've watched the videos of them, takes it's cues from the excitement of black churches, the energy of african tribal dance, and a freedom to express unfettered blackness, celebrating it w/ other blacks--language, manners, music dress, accepted norms--these segretated proms are CULTURALLY segregated, not racially segregated

[Daovonnaex]

@dollar12 When I was in high school a lot of underclassmen complained about not be able to attend prom. But the whole point of the prom was that it was for upperclassmen (and their dates).

This is tough for some people to swallow, but the basis of community is exclusion. While some may find race-based community exclusion abhorrent, functionally it's no different from barring underclassmen from the prom or restricting the prom to people from that high school.

[dollar12]

@Daovonnaex Oh, OK, I see what you're talking about now and actually I agree. I hear that people naturally self-segregate racially and I support this -- if it's voluntary. It's just that blacks should be allowed at the white ball and visa versa if that's what they want. Some of the black people were upset that they weren't allowed to attend the white ball.

[Daovonnaex]

@dollar12

Skin color may make a difference if groups with different skin colors happen to prefer certain skin colors over other ones. More to the point, various other traits often bundled together make a significant difference.

Birds of a feather flock together, and race is no exception. It's not just a Southern white thing, look at how many black-only clubs and organizations there are. Maybe students of both races there prefer to have separate proms?