“Whites Only” Reception

September 2, 2012

Comments

Via ABC News: Class reunion letter lists ‘white graduates only’ party

Graduates from the St. Martinville, La., Senior High School Class of 1973 decided that after nearly 40 years, they would stop holding segregated class reunions, but a letter announcing the change included an after party for "white graduates only."

There is a photo of the invitation at the link.

Of course, the “whites only” after party should not overshadow the fact that "This year, 2012, was going to be the first year that we were going to integrate it." (source)

Yes, this is an example from a small town and one can only extrapolate so much from it. However, for those who like to pretend that there is no racism left in America, this is a sad reminder than this is not the case.

Keep in mind that we are are talking about people in their late 50s here, not folks in their 90s.

14 responses to ““Whites Only” Reception”

Ernieyeball

September 2, 2012 at 3:08 pm

Ofay honkie crackers…’bout as worthless as tits on a bull…
MBunge

September 2, 2012 at 3:13 pm

One of the things which cripples conservative attempts to just talk about racial issues, let alone appeal to minority voters, is an enforced amnesia about this country’s racial history. The subtext is always “Everything that’s happened and been said about race in the past has nothing to do with what I’m saying now”.

Mike
Steven L. Taylor

September 2, 2012 at 3:21 pm

@MBunge:

an enforced amnesia about this country’s racial history.

Indeed. Which is why reminders like this are needed. Too many people want to pretend like this was all “fixed” a long time ago. Also: it underscores why persons of color would see such claims as bogus.
TastyBits

September 2, 2012 at 3:26 pm

From the link:

Liza Chance, one of the organizers of the event, told ABC affiliate KATC the group had originally planned to have separate parties again this year, but then changed their minds, and that the old plans were sent prematurely.

“I don’t understand why this went the way it did,” she said.

Trying to change a racist is futile. In her mind, they have made progress, but it is vile and disgusting. The solution is to isolate anyone and anything associated with a racist. She has many non-racist family and friends who will continue to be associated with her. They need to be given a choice: If you not against her, you are with her.

The school district, city government, and county/parish government should not receive any federal funding, and any vendors and contractors doing any business with them should be affected also. This would be subject to abuse, but some process needs to be developed.
John Peabody

September 2, 2012 at 4:35 pm

A friend of mine was in an Army Band that played a parade in some small town in Louisiana. Afterwards, she said that the band was welcomed by one of the town VIPs: “You’all were great…thanks for coming out. Now we’ve got some great food and beer inside the hall for you…y’all come on in…and don’t worry, we’ll bring out some food for your blacks that are staying on the bus”. The band commander, no fool he, promptly declined the offering and the entire band departed immediately,

That story is not from the 1950s…it was from 1989. Nineteen-effing-eighty-nine. I’ll admit being dumbfounded when I heard it, but there it is.
Eric

September 2, 2012 at 4:55 pm

There are some school districts that have segregated proms. Morgan Freeman funded a prom for a school in Mississippi on the condition that the prom is not segregated.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prom_Night_in_Mississippi
al-Ameda

September 2, 2012 at 6:21 pm

What is interesting to me is that many Republican conservatives consider Obama to be a racist, and that Obama has caused race relations to regress in his 3+ years. Many Republicans believe that reverse racism is a bigger problem than traditional racism.

Who can be surprised?
TastyBits

September 2, 2012 at 6:39 pm

What is interesting to me is that most liberals would send their children to school with Liza Chance’s children before sending them to the black & brown schools. When the area they live in gets too dark, they move.
Catfish

September 2, 2012 at 8:23 pm

@TastyBits: The school and school district administrations have nothing to do with high school reunions so your idea of some sort of Federal punishment won’t work. Around here, we would just as soon the Federal government keep their money and all of the strings attached rules and regulations. I have friends that I don’t agree with on many issues: politics, food, sports, clothing, books, tv programs, music, etc. That doesn’t mean I dump them. Down here, friends are loyal to each other. That’s what friends do. This is a reunion, a get together of classmates from long ago, many of them probably are no longer around. Leave them alone; they don’t have many reunions left.
TastyBits

September 2, 2012 at 8:58 pm

@Catfish

It is disgusting and despicable, but private citizens should be able to engage in disgusting and despicable behavior. If this is a private function, government money would not be involved. As to your friends, your choice is a result of your values. Most people would drop a child molester as a friend. One’s choice is quite revealing. As to your family, it is more difficult.

In my opinion, racism is a little different than music choice, but I have been called insane and stupid. Assuming that one human is less than another based upon skin tone is a moral defect, and it should be treated as such. If you are a Christian, I suspect that Jesus teachings included, but I could be mistaken.

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
– John 13:34

I am quite familiar with the South, Louisiana, and St. Martinville. Racism is not confined to any of these. When integration comes to a liberal neighborhood, liberals move out. Does anybody remember busing moving north?
superdestroyer

September 2, 2012 at 9:14 pm

@Eric:

No school district has an official segregated prom. However, many schools have private parties that many do call prom that are segregated. At many schools where blacks are in the majority, white students and their parents organized private parties as an alternative to the official school prom.

Unless a white person had attended a school that is majority black, they have no idea what the white students do through. The reality leaked out in 2010 when the supreme Court looked at a segregation case in Mississippi

At the majority black school the

Brown and others also noted that at Tylertown, white children and parents rarely attend graduation ceremonies, and that white students have often held a separate prom out of town.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/19/AR2010041905118_pf.html

I always find it odd that progressives who send their own children to all white private schools are quick to call middle class and poor whites racist.
Eric

September 3, 2012 at 1:55 am

@superdestroyer:

always find it odd that progressives who send their own children to all white private schools are quick to call middle class and poor whites racist.

That’s anybody, not just progressives. If you had the money, wouldn’t you want to send your children to the best school you can your child can get into? It just so happens that most private schools are majority White (maybe something along the line that the majority of people who can afford private schools are White). And that private schools are viewed as better than public schools (the value depends on the school).

And the fact that there are no “official segregated proms” may be off. Just because it isn’t official does not mean it isn’t encouraged.
James Joyner

September 3, 2012 at 4:52 am

@TastyBits: Unless things are different there than where I went to school, the school district doesn’t have anything to do with class reunions.
Barry

September 3, 2012 at 12:23 pm

@al-Ameda: “What is interesting to me is that many Republican conservatives consider Obama to be a racist, and that Obama has caused race relations to regress in his 3+ years. Many Republicans believe that reverse racism is a bigger problem than traditional racism.”

It’ all Rovian lies. Those who are guilty blame the others. Those same people probably believe that Obama was born in Kenya, that Saddam was behind 9/11, and that the Great Financial Crash was due to liberalism.