Students organizing Georgia integrated prom: Governor’s silence is ‘political suicide’
by Arturo Garcia
Two of the student organizers of the first integrated prom for a Georgia high school told Democracy Now anchors Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez that Gov. Nathan Deal’s (R) reluctance to back them could come back to haunt him politically.
“It really shocked me,” Wilcox County High School student Brandon Davis said in an interview on Friday. “And as me having a military part of a background, I’ve never heard anyone, quote-unquote, ‘commit political suicide’ so fast. And just by saying that, does he not realize the students who are supporting this and putting this together are ages of 17 and 18 and legal voting age? He just, like—it just—it really, really dug deep with me.”
When asked by the activist group Better Georgia if Deal would endorse the integrated dance, a spokesperson for the governor said he would not comment on the issue, saying, “This is a leftist front group for the state Democratic party and we’re not going to lend a hand to their silly publicity stunt.”
Goodman pointed out that Deal issued a separate statement in which he said school events “should not have the distinction or discrimination made based on race or gender or any other separation,”
