Boy meets girl in school. Boy says he's going to ask girl to the prom. Boy asks girl and goes home and tells Mom and Dad. Mom and Dad say "cancel, she's black. You can't go to the prom with a Black girl!". How could it be? It's 2009! Are we still in that frame of mind? Welcome to small-town Amerikka.
The story is sad and it's even sadder that it's happening to a child. The first time the father of this bicultural family moved into the area, he was recruited by the KKK. He was surprised but even more afraid but did not fail to let them know that they probably wouldn't want him in their group once they saw his family. In this day and age, young women still experience the harsh sting of racism, at the hands of young white boys and girls and it's just simply disheartening to watch.
We have a biracial president, and yet a black girl can be told that she is 'not good enough' to go to the prom with another child because of her race. This young lady boasts a 92 GPA and is heading off to a very prestigious university on a Presidential scholarship in the fall. She is mannerly and quite beautiful, with the most caring upbringing that one can imagine. Her mothers tears pierced my heart as she told me the story and I wondered how we will ever mend these holes as time progresses.
We live in an area where Black faces are rarely seen in places of importance/power. White faces are dominant in the town and despite their destitute standing in the community, some of them still consider themselves more significant than Black people. The lessons I've learned in this town are priceless but I hate the fact that a child, a beautiful, brilliant, innocent child, also has to learn the same hard lessons in the same cold way.
She WILL have a date. Maybe even two. But the sad reality is that which the white family will have to live with for the rest of their lives. .02
Friday, May 15, 2009
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