Remember when Morgan Freeman fixed racism in Mississippi schools (at least the issue of segregated proms)? Well, turns out that even the President from Deep Impact can’t get the Deep South to at least try to pretend like they know it’s the year 2010.

A couple years ago the greatest narrator of our time brought the issue of prom segregation to a national light. Unfortunately, if you’re not from the area you tend not to know about these things. I’m a middle class white boy from Western New York. In middle school I learned that racism ended back before cable TV was invented. I mean, the guy from Hoosiers and the Green Goblin defeated all the racists in Mississippi in 1964, right? Turns out Red from Shawshank still had some work to do, and he cleaned up the last remnants a couple years ago by shining the bright light of progress on the forgotten corner of America that still had a segregated prom.

Unfortunately, the old cop from Se7en may have to come to bat for his state again. Turns out middle school elections in Nettleton, Mississippi have pre-set races that are allowed to hold various positions. No big deal, right? I mean, the president of the class has to be white. It’s made up for, though, because the vice president of the 8th grade, the secretary/treasurer of the 7th grade, and the reporter for the 6th and 8th grades must be black. So it all balances out.

Wait, what? You’re not effing serious, are you? I mean, it’s only one source, right? Okay, so there’re a couple different sources…it doesn’t mean that their reasoning is racist, does it?

They told me that they “Go by the mother’s race b/c with minorities the father isn’t generally in the home.” They also told me that “a city court order is the reason why it is this way.”

Sorry, what did she say? I tried actually reading the quote I myself put in block quotes, but I know I misread it because it says that the reasoning behind all this is a court order. And I know that can’t be right because adults, presumably with some level of competence, are allowed to work in courts. And courts tend to have a penchant for following laws. I mean, in some twisted world this might be called Affirmative Action, until you realize that Affirmative Action doesn’t actively prevent a particular position from being held by someone because of their race. It diversifies the workplace and sometimes a company will hire over another because of race (to fill quotas, and all of this is an entirely different can of worms I don’t want to open right now), but it does not restrict a position by race.

This policy is being put to an end, which is great news. I mean it gives me confidence in our educational system that something like this was nipped in the ass before it could do any sort of real damage.

“[R]esearch was conducted that evidenced that the current practices and procedures for student elections have existed for over 30 years.”

Oh God damn it! Seriously? This little thing slipped by for 30 years? Really? For 30 years no adult that had anything to do with the school, be they a principal, a teacher, a janitor, a parent, an administrator, or somebody dusting off old court documents saw a problem with this system? It only outlines that only a white kid can run for president for Christ sakes! In plain English! It’s not even a full sentence, so most backwoods morons should still be able to comprehend it. Is there an argument out there that can justify anybody who is even 2 degrees of separation from that law keeping their job? Keep in mind that these people aren’t working for McDonald’s money…teachers in Mississippi don’t rake in the cash, but they’ve at least got a career. Seriously? 30 God damn years? They’ve only held 30 school elections under this policy.

Morgan Freeman, get your ass out from in front of the cameras and put on your narrating shoes. There’s work to be done.

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