Segregated Prom 2013,

Ah, the American South. You never know what they'll do next down there. The state of Georgia has been making quite a fool of itself in the past week or so. I wrote an article a couple days ago about a town in Georgia mandating gun ownership, and now, another town in Georgia is making national noise because it still has segregated dances. Yes, that's right. Their dances are s-e-g-r-e-g-a-t-e-d. 

Wilcox County's (which coincidentally, was where Jefferson Davis was captured after the Civil  War) public High School has had segregated proms and homecomings for the last 30 years. Every year they have two proms, one for white students, and one for everybody else. Last year, a mixed-race student showed up at the white prom, and they were actually apprehended by the police. Last year was te first year the Wilcox County High School actually had only one homecoming dance. The homecoming king and queen were of different races, one black and one white, so they weren't allowed to take a picture together for the year book. Some students at the school, invluding the ones pictured abovehave been pushing for one, integrated prom. They put posters up around the school trying to gain support, and the posters were torn down. 

Some paces never cease to amaze me. Many a time, the rest of the United States has had to pull the South, kicking and screaming, into whatever century it happened to be. We obviously saw this with slavery. These states broke away from the country, and fought a war over the right to keep slaves. That wasn't the end of it though. Mississippi  didn't ratify the 13th amenendment, which abolished slavery, until 1995. It took 130 years for the Hospitality State to accept abolition. And still, all over the region, there are still fights going on when elected officials want to fly the Confederate battle flag, the symbol of their treachery, in their courthouses and Capitol buildings. 

Then there was Women's Suffrage. The South, of course, was lagging behind on this issue of fundamental rights.

And forget same-sex marriage. It took the South until 1967 to legalize interacial marriage. It just wasn't traditional!

(Interracial marriage legalized: Before 1887, 1948-1967, 12 June 1967)

But wait; there's more! The North Carolina legislature was working earlier this week on legislation that said that the 1st amendment, the most crucial law in American history, did not apply to North Carolina. The bill said each state "is sovereign" and courts cannot block a state "from making laws respecting an establishment of religion."  

But back to prom. I have confidence that next year, Wilcox County High school will hold a non-bigoted prom. The press they've gotten over this is just too bad. But like I said, you never know what they'll do next down there.