Too often we take for granted our own liberty.  I am in an interracial relationship, and until certain issues come up, I often think nothing of it.

This story is one of those issues.

A small city in Georgia is finally taking steps towards desegregation of its high school's prom.

Ashburn, Georgia is located in south central Georgia and is reported to house around 4,400 people.  Sixty-five percent of those are black, and 32 percent are white, according to census data.

Historically, students who attend Turner County High say that things have "always been this way" and that this seems to be the first successful attempt to integrate dances.  All other efforts failed due to lack of student support and student turnout from both white and black groups.

It is 2007, and we are more than 50 years away from the fundamental Brown v. Board of Education decision, which effectively made academic segregation illegal based on inequality.  However, too often Brown and other paramount decisions are the only things we look at when it comes to separation of races.  Sometimes, its the legacy, not the legality, that confines us.

The harsh reality is that, in the United States, while separate but equal may be the law, affirmative action may exist ,and discrimination may be effectively illegal — hate is real and entrenched.  If a group of four high school students in Georgia can work to change it, why can't we? Furthmore, why has it taken us so long?

Juana Maria Summers