And people call Berkeley a political bubble, detached from the rest of the country? CNN: Students attend school’s first integrated prom.
The comments in the story are astounding. On the surface because of the underlying racism of Georgian culture, but also because of this weird sense that the endemic separatism isn’t necessarily coming from conscious decisions to maintain segregation, but rather a desire to maintain tradition, as if tradition ipso facto diminishes racism. Imagine a California teenager saying:
“The white people have theirs, and the black people have theirs. It’s nothing racial at all.”
People sometimes see tradition as inherently valuable, no matter how twisted its roots. Satisfying to see that even if children there aren’t being brought up to question racist traditions, they’re figuring out how to do it on their own.
Thanks baald
>People sometimes see tradition as inherently valuable, no matter how twisted its roots.
Instantly reminded me of a high school English class reading assignment, The Lottery.
I won’t say more, I don’t want to ruin it, but it is a great read — an important read — particularly for this tradition loving Episcopalian.
Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lottery
Read online:
http://www.americanliterature.com/SS/SS16.HTML
Audio book online:
http://town.hall.org/radio/HarperAudio/mp3/940222_harp_01_ITH.mp3
Ahh, The Lottery. I was interested to note in the Wikipedia article that it was one of the most-banned stories at one point. This was especially surprising considering that I also read it in English class in high school, and at a conservative Mennonite high school, no less…
Yeah, I was shocked at the story, and I’m from the South.
/me mumbles to himself, “Gotta convince the wife to move to a sane part of the country…”