14 DAY TRIAL // This is the first time that the Martinville, La. high-school isn't holding a segregated class reunion, but that's not what the invite reads.
The alumni received a list of events that will be taking place at the reunion that includes a “white graduates only” after-party.
The invite runs down the schedule of events for the September 21 gathering, which include a reception at 5:30 PM, a homecoming football game at 7 PM and an “after game get together (white graduates only)” afterwards.
High-school principal Michael Kreamer claims this was a mistake, one he had no knowledge of before the letters to the alumni were sent out. However, it wasn't a typo, if that's what you're thinking. Liza Chance, one of the organizers of this event, told ABC affiliate KATC that holding segregated parties was the original plan, which is why the invites weren't changed.
“This year, 2012, was going to be the first year that we were going to integrate it,” Liza Chance states in her interview with KATC.
Principal Kreamer steers away from taking responsibility for the incident, and adds that, “It’s disappointing to see something like this. [...] The school was really not involved at all in it.”
The incident is causing an uproar on Facebook. The NY Daily News website quotes one user living in Martinville that confirms rumors about the racist practices that still divide the small town in Louisiana:
“If you are not from this area, most people do not understand the segregation that took place and is still taking place.”
We don't know whether to be more surprised by the fact that, in this day in age, someone would make such a politically incorrect statement out loud and in writing, or by the ease with which high-school reps admit to the fact that, until last year, all their reunions were segregated.
Perhaps this was a lesson for all involved and, hopefully, next year, anyone at the Martinville high-school will be allowed to ride at the front of the bus.
