Hooray for progress! Er, well, maybe not.
Because 55 years after Topeka vs. Board of Education called for the desegregation of public schools, there are still kids in spots around the South who attend segregated proms. White kids have their prom one night. Black kids have theirs another.
It's a story that's getting national attention thanks to actor Morgan Freeman's decision to fund an integrated prom in Mississippi, where he grew up, for one school - helping to desegregate the schools once and for all. The story is the focus of a documentary set to air on HBO in July.
But even while Freeman's alma mater, Charleston High School, has made the jump, there are still plenty of schools left that haven't. Like the Georgia high school profiled in the New York Times late last week. In a place where white kids still throw up their hands and excuse their behavior with, "It’s just a tradition.”
To that, I say, we all know how much teenagers love bucking tradition, don't we? Seriously, hasn't one of these kids watched Footloose? Corny story of a group of teens who brought back the school dance despite the TRADITION of no dancing and no carousing put forth by the town's religious elders? It's a classic of sorts. Almost a tradition.
At least it's as much a tradition as teens bucking their elders by standing up for change. That's what they call progress. And unless kids can get on board, we're screwed.
Image: NY Times
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