Hopefully This Puts An End To It

The NY Times has an article about racially segregated proms that endure in some southern towns. HBO is going to air a documentary film about the same subject. It will be interesting to see how many towns are shamed out of the practice by next year's prom season.

I'm surprised that such a blatantly segregationist practice has survived this long, though it is somewhat in keeping with social patterns I've seen in the south. E.g. one time back in the 90s, I was visiting a friend at a small southern college, and was sitting on a bench waiting for him. I had the bench all to myself, although the other bench across the lawn was full of people, which struck me as mildly odd. I asked him later about it, and he explained that I was sitting on the bench where the black students usually hung out, and the crowded one across the way was the bench where the white students hung out. I have no idea whether any black students had come along and decided not to sit there because I was, or if they all just happened to be in class for that half hour. I asked him who decided this rule, and he said it wasn't a rule, but just kind of a traditional thing that everyone seemed comfortable with. Well, here's hoping some traditions die out.