So as i surfed the Saturday news,  I find MPH talking to a writer about what started out as a 2009 story seemingly about a prom, possible inclusion, promise and progress which tragically splinters off into three different stories as one ends with an unnecessary senseless death of #JustinPatterson,a young black man in 2011. The third is about a black man who struggles to become a sheriff.

In April of 2013, as politics and pop culture collided … while twitter and face book joined in as seeds of change for an event full of inclusion and progress … several side stories which didn’t make it to TV were in full effect . I along with others that night praised, laughed ,danced tweeted positive things about what was happening, while  two young men who possibly were in the wrong place are shot at and one killed . The story is one that hurts, makes me upset that this was a side story possibly swept under a damn rug not only by the media but authorities in this little town and brings to mind what happens when young black men are confronted treated as threats first above all else.

We hear that this story really begins in 2009 about couples and proms moves on to 2011 and the tragic death of #JustinPatterson by a white man, his friend is forever traumatized then ends with a black man struggling to be a Sheriff in this 21st Century environment of “jim crow” along with another prom and move toward progress in 2013

the information below is from MHP website ….

Then, drive 160 miles south of Atlanta and you’ll find the rural city of Mount Vernon, Georgia. Traditions run deep in this community situated in the Deep South.

Just in 2009, photojournalist Gillian Laub went to this town to photograph Montgomery County High School’s segregated proms.

And what “began as an exploration of segregated proms in the South became something much more complex, inspiring—and tragic—than [Laub] could ever have imagined.” Laub joins us this Saturday to discuss “Southern Rites,” her new HBO documentary  about racial division and progress in a small Georgia town.

Watch the powerful “Southern Rites” trailer here!

Tune In on May 18,2015 for the HBO documentary

Resource: MHP:taken from website