Georgians plan whites-only prom party

For those of you who read this headline and immediately checked the date to make sure you weren’t stuck in a time warp to 1959, I offer this rather simplistic theory of why this is happening here and now, albeit in the South which is still working through the trauma of Reconstruction. Forget for a moment the issues of race and sex that keep phrases like “interracial dating” and words like “miscegenation” in our vocabulary. Forget the recent bitterness of Georgia’s state flag. Forget the socioeconomic realities that keep race a part of the debate. Forget the likes of Trent Lott and Jesse Helms who still can’t quite let go of segregation. Forget all the history, all the angst, all hashing and rehashing.

It’s quite simple really. White kids are too embarrassed to dance around black kids.