Some people claim that racism in the U.S. has dissolved over time, but recently it has come to our attention that there are still marks of racism being imprinted in our nation’s history. Up until last year, Charleston High School in Mississippi had been having two separate proms: the “white” prom and the “black” prom. In the movie “Prom Night in Mississippi” Paul Saltzman tells the story of how home town-native Morgan Freeman offers to pay for their 2008 prom, as long as it was a single-integrated prom. The majority of students agreed, but there were still some unsettling comments of a few of the students and some parents clearly opposed to this idea. Some students were threatened to have their trucks taken away, or even to be disowned, if they attended the integrated prom or spoke in the movie. However, we must not ignore the radiance of the brave students that spoke about their beliefs and thoughts on the issue with or without the approval of their parents. Later in an interview, one of the students even stated her dissappointment that the nation already had a black President and her town was still stuck on the issue of segretated and integrated proms.
So after learning about this incident our question for you today is: Do you think the aura of racism has faded as much as people say it has? Or is it the ideas of activists like Martin Luther King that have faded?
By Estefania Avila & Virgil Almeda