Students attend school's first integrated prom

[aimee]

Well I don’t think much country music was played at the black prom. But your right its hyperbole I suppose.
Bill O’Reilly brought this out a year ago. He had the Principal, and school board members on and crucified them. That’s how this whole thing got started.

One thing I’m not sure Mr OReilly understood was these were private parties and you can’t tell someone who to invite to a private event. Now I say it will take some people to start refusing to attend said events etc or stop having them…

 

[dawgfan]

Bill O’Reilly brought this out a year ago. He had the Principal, and school board members on and crucified them. That’s how this whole thing got started.

Oh I understand now.

 

[Qwikness]

I understand that. Look, you’re from Washington State, right? How many black people live there? It’s probably all white. Not literally but you know. Who else is going to buy music?
Second, White kids listen to rap. I know that, heck I grew up on RUN DMC. How many people in Washington listen to country? probably five, in Georgia, probably more.
I’m off subject, the point is these kids had it this way and it was their way. The way they wanted it. Now folks around the world are saying your ignorant, your a meanie, this the 21st century, but both sides wanted it that way. Both sides.

BTW in my original post I never mentioned rap but R&B. Such acts as Robert Thicke, Akon, and Musiq Soulchild.
Also if I hadn’t mentioned Country I could have mentioned Rock like Papa Roach, Linkin Park, or Nickelback.
I don’t see a country boy getting romantic to Keith Sweat. Well I can see it but it would be funny looking.

 

[rlg94086]

Well, you obviously have no experience with the area I live in. It is part of the Portland Metro and there are plenty of black and white kids buying hip-hop.

Like I said, it is a difference to have a “black” prom versus a “hip-hop” prom. The difference is racial exclusion. Just because “people want it that way”, or even that it is a protected right, doesn’t make it the right thing to do.

I understand that. Look, you’re from Washington State, right? How many black people live there? It’s probably all white. Not literally but you know. Who else is going to buy music?
Second, White kids listen to rap. I know that, heck I grew up on RUN DMC. How many people in Washington listen to country? probably five, in Georgia, probably more.
I’m off subject, the point is these kids had it this way and it was their way. The way they wanted it. Now folks around the world are saying your ignorant, your a meanie, this the 21st century, but both sides wanted it that way. Both sides.

 

[jc-servant]

One thing I’m not sure Mr OReilly understood was these were private parties and you can’t tell someone who to invite to a private event. Now I say it will take some people to start refusing to attend said events etc or stop having them…

A lot of these so-called private parties were started when the public schools were told that by law they could no longer have racial segregation for school-sponsored proms. It was just another way to keep from complying with laws on desegregation. I think Bill is old enough to know the roots of this conflict and intelligent enough to understand what is going on.

 

[aimee]

A lot of these so-called private parties were started when the public schools were told that by law they could no longer have racial segregation for school-sponsored proms. It was just another way to keep from complying with laws on desegregation. I think Bill is old enough to know the roots of this conflict and intelligent enough to understand what is going on.

Well be that as it may…you still can’t tell people whom to invite to a private party…Mr OReilly seemed to think the Principal could or thats the way it seemed to me. Now where we live the proms are Not seperate. Individuals will have to stop these kinds of things…as in many areas they have.

 

[jc-servant]

I am against having a Congressional Black Caucus and the NAACP and the NAAWP. Race should not be a consideration in anything with the exception of the medical field.

I am also against government forms asking what race someone is.

There was a historical need for these organizations that would not have been the same for a similar white organization since all of Congress was white except for the handful of blacks who started getting elected in recent decades and a few during Reconstruction. There is also a women’s caucus, but men participate in it also. Initially both women and blacks who did get elected to Congress found themselves shut out of the white, male networking and discussion, so they had to band together out of necessity.

I would say it could be debatable whether or not the organizations are still performing a necessary function in Congress. We might wish that race was not a consideration except for medicine, but Cor’s posts here are a good example of how some people are still very much focused on race in this country (and not in a good way). Skin color is one of the first things that we see about a person, so if someone wants to think preconceived ideas about people on that basis we cannot stop them. (Even if they sometimes guess incorrectly about someone’s background based on visual cues.)

BTW, anyone is welcome to come to CBC and discuss the issues that they are concerned with. A person does not have to be black to join the NAACP either. I used to attend a summer conference held by the Legislative Black Caucus in Missouri and whites were most definitely welcome and in attendance. The organization just had a mission to address underserved issues that may affect blacks more disproportionately. It did not mean their work did not help non-blacks also or that they excluded non-blacks from participation.

 

[jc-servant]

Well be that as it may…you still can’t tell people whom to invite to a private party…Mr OReilly seemed to think the Principal could or thats the way it seemed to me. Now where we live the proms are Not seperate. Individuals will have to stop these kinds of things…as in many areas they have.

Bill likes to argue and wreak havoc on guests, so you could be right. I don’t agree with a lot of things that he says because he goes to extremes.

Regarding private parties, sure you can invite whomever you want but the school does not have to give any sanction to them by allowing posters or flyers on school property, etc. The school could also actively promote a really fun alternative that all of the kids could enjoy together. I don’t know if they tried that because I didn’t see all of the discussions on TV about this story.

I graduated from HS in Oklahoma in 1981and our dances had a variety of music that changed all night from hard core old country to R&B to retro/disco, etc. My HS was also overwhelmingly white when I went there. I think there were only 8 blacks in my graduating class including me. Everyone was invited to everything because we were a public school. Since all of the most popular kids (especially the athletes) were participating in events with kids of all colors that was where the rest of the kids wanted to be.

I agree that individuals solve most things like this because as people in different groups whether it be racial or ethnic or religious interact and really get to know each other most ignorant prejudices go away. Merely going to school together without talking or hanging out won’t do it.

 

[Qwikness]

Well, you obviously have no experience with the area I live in. It is part of the Portland Metro and there are plenty of black and white kids buying hip-hop.

Like I said, it is a difference to have a “black” prom versus a “hip-hop” prom. The difference is racial exclusion. Just because “people want it that way”, or even that it is a protected right, doesn’t make it the right thing to do.

You’re right, never been there.

It’s fun talking about this with you.
I am perturbed about the negative stuff coming out about Georgia. That’s what I’m defending.
I think the Prom was divided not skin color but tastes, cultural tastes. The news makes it sound like finding a land that time forgot. Georgia is the most progressive state in the south. This is an embarrassment that Bill O’Reilly used for his own profit. He was so proud of himself for “exposing” this segragation and vilified the people involved. It is a school that is 55% black. Where was the outcry before this. It is those on the outside that want the change the most. I say let the people there deal with it. If there is a true problem bring let the state or the FBI take care of it but everybody else stay out of it.

Whew, sorry, went on a rant. I’m off the soapbox.

Next…

 

[dawgfan]

I am perturbed about the negative stuff coming out about Georgia. That’s what I’m defending.

Georgia is the most progressive state in the south.

Thanks.

Some people on the board seem to have Southern “envy”.

 

[sanctamaria17]

First, let’s not bash the South. One of my best friends lives in GA and my bf’s mom also, I believe, came from the South. They are very intelligent, free-thinking people and neither of them are racist. Please don’t give the impression that all Southerners are because that is not true.

Second, that’s awesome that they’re finally having an integrated prom. Yes, it’s been a long time, but at least they’re taking a step in the right direction.

Third, race does not matter at all. St. Paul preached against the wall of separation, in order that we may truly love our brothers and sisters in the Lord. I don’t care what race my future husband is, because it’s only skin color. Not to mention that some Europeans can get very dark. Especially if you’re of Mediterranean descent.

Also, who says white people can’t like hip-hop, or that black people can’t like rock? I think hip-hop’s OK, though I prefer rock, Latin, and chant, while my other best friend, who’s black, likes rock music and actually turned me on to a few rock bands. Meanwhile, my town is mostly white and most of the music at our proms and dances has been hip hop.

 

[cor]

IIRC there was one person who denied that races existed. I mentioned tribes and clans being mentioned in Revelation. Here’s also “race” being mentioned in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

781 "At all times and in every race, anyone who fears God and does what is right has been acceptable to him. He has, however, willed to make men holy and save them, not as individuals without any bond or link between them, but rather to make them into a people who might acknowledge him and serve him in holiness. He therefore chose the Israelite race to be his own people and established a covenant with it. He gradually instructed this people. . . . All these things, however, happened as a preparation for and figure of that new and perfect covenant which was to be ratified in Christ . . . the New Covenant in his blood; he called together a race made up of Jews and Gentiles which would be one, not according to the flesh, but in the Spirit."201

The Mormons have or used to have an interesting theology of race.

I found a papal teaching which affirms that it is good to love your own race (which is what I’ve been talking about in this thread):

Thus will it be your high praise and just congratulation that in your labors you were able to deserve most nobly of the religion which you uphold so well, and of your country and your race, for whom you, no less than Ourselves, greatly desire an unbroken tranquillity and a lease of perfect prosperity.

papalencyclicals.net/Leo13/l13relun.htm

It’s from 1891 Pope Leo XIII

 

[Timothy_486]

IIRC there was one person who denied that races existed. I mentioned tribes and clans being mentioned in Revelation. Here’s also “race” being mentioned in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

781 "At all times and in every race, anyone who fears God and does what is right has been acceptable to him. He has, however, willed to make men holy and save them, not as individuals without any bond or link between them, but rather to make them into a people who might acknowledge him and serve him in holiness. He therefore chose the Israelite race to be his own people and established a covenant with it. He gradually instructed this people. . . . All these things, however, happened as a preparation for and figure of that new and perfect covenant which was to be ratified in Christ . . . the New Covenant in his blood; he called together a race made up of Jews and Gentiles which would be one, not according to the flesh, but in the Spirit."201

The Mormons have or used to have an interesting theology of race.

I found a papal teaching which affirms that it is good to love your own race (which is what I’ve been talking about in this thread):

papalencyclicals.net/Leo13/l13relun.htm

It’s from 1891 Pope Leo XIII

Races are artificial constructs used to class ourselves, but in truth there is no such thing that can by science be called “race”