Wilcox County High School seniors Stephanie Sinnot, Mareshia Rucker, Quanesha Wallace and Keela Bloodworth grew up together and should be looking forward to sharing prom memories this spring.

But their school's tradition of segregated proms may keep the teenagers and other friends apart on their special night. Stephanie and Keela are white; Mareshia and Quanesha are Black. 

"We are all friends," Stephanie told WSAV. "That's just kind of not right that we can't go to prom together."
The friends are ready to step into the 21st century and are organizing with other students an integrated prom.

But not all students are ready for change and have no problem showing it. 
"I put up posters for the 'Integrated Prom,' and we've had people ripping them down at the school," said Keela.

WSAV reports: 

The group says they will continue to make progress even though there doesn't seem to be much motivation to change.

"We need to stick with the tradition," Quanesha said mockingly. "This is a traditional thing we don't need to change and stuff like that, but why? No one can answer my question.

"Exactly," responded Keela. "They think nothing's broken so don't fix it."

There will still be two proms this year. Neither [prom is] financed by or allowed to take place at Wilcox County High School. The students said that when they pushed for one prom, the school offered a resolution to permit an integrated prom that would allow all students to attend but not stop segregated proms.

The group also has a Facebook page named "Integrated Prom" to gain support and [is] also hosting several fund-raising events to pay for the prom.

Read the full story here. 

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