CHERRY HILL, N.J. -- The principal of a New Jersey high school has apologized for what he called "insensitive" language on tickets for the upcoming senior prom.

The Courier Post reported the Cherry Hill High School East senior prom tickets urged students to "party like it's 1776" during the event at Philadelphia's National Constitution Center.

Principal Dennis Perry said in a letter to the community posted on his Twitter account Friday that some people were offended, and he wanted to apologize "for the hurt feelings this reference caused for members of our school family."

"It was insensitive and irresponsible not to appreciate that not all communities can celebrate what life was like in 1776," Perry said.

He said he especially wanted to apologize to black students "who I have let down by not initially recognizing the inappropriateness of this wording."

Perry said prom attendees will not be asked to present the tickets and will receive commemorative tickets without the language.

Danny Elmore, vice president of the Cherry Hill African American Civic Association, told the paper that he believed the principal handled the situation well.

But Elmore also called for increased awareness of cultural diversity, noting an uproar last year when the school staged "Ragtime," a musical that included a racial slur.

"Talk about it with people before you take an action, and we won't have this happen," Elmore said.

Lloyd Henderson, president of the Camden County NAACP East chapter, also praised the principal's immediate response but called the incident "another example" of a school culture in which "the African American students' needs are not considered along with the rest of the school."

The latest New Jersey School Report Card indicates that black youths represented 6.2 percent of East's student body, compared to 62.2 percent for whites, 22.4 percent for Asians and a 5.9 percent share for Hispanics.

In the future, Perry said, safeguards would be instituted "to ensure that a diverse group of people view all information before it is distributed from the school."

"I would like to thank members of our school community for their caring and thoughtful conversation while discussing this sensitive issue," he said.

___

Information from: Courier-Post (Cherry Hill, N.J.)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3982986&forum_id=2#36098226)

http://www.phillyvoice.com/cherry-hill-east-1776-prom-theme-principal-perry-apologizes-black-students-/

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3982986&forum_id=2#36098346)

It case it wasn't clear enough, that's exactly the response this outrage is meant to elicit.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3982986&forum_id=2#36098634)

"black youths represented 6.2 percent of East's student body, compared to 62.2 percent for whites, 22.4 percent for Asians and a 5.9 percent share for Hispanics."

Likelihood that it wasn't even black students that complained?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3982986&forum_id=2#36098645)

Big controversy in the town when they wanted to play Ragtime (theater is huge at this school) and use the actual "N Word", as it used in the play. They were forced to give a speech prior to the play regarding "sensitivity".

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3982986&forum_id=2#36105873)

Updated: MAY 22, 2018 — 5:00 PM EDT

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Cherry Hill High School East, May 22, 2018. The principal apologized for language on prom tickets that told students to party like it was 1776.

by Jenice Armstrong, STAFF COLUMNIST @JeniceArmstrong | armstrj@phillynews.com

The wording on tickets to Cherry Hill East’s upcoming prom at the National Constitution Center invited students to “party like it’s 1776.”

And therein lies the proverbial rub.

The exhortation overlooked the fact that back in 1776, African Americans were enslaved. And let me tell you this: For black folks, there was no partying going on.

For my ancestors and those of most other African Americans, that was a hellish time. As white Americans celebrated their independence from Britain — which black soldiers helped them secure — blacks were being held in the worst kind of captivity.

And that, dear readers, is why eyebrows were raised at the wording on those prom tickets.

I don’t blame the students. They were just trying to be clever with their American independence prom theme. It was an innocent oversight and one that was deftly smoothed over by the school’s principal, Dennis Perry, who on Friday wrote a letter of apology, saying “It was insensitive and irresponsible not to appreciate that not all communities can celebrate what life was like in 1776.”

Perry went on to write, “I especially apologize to our African American students, whom I have let down by not initially recognizing the inappropriateness of this wording.”

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Dr. Dennis Perry

@drperryateast

Please read this letter of apology to the East Community.

4:43 PM - May 18, 2018

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It was a valuable learning experience for the students – but judging from some of the racial vitriol on social media, it’s one that appears to have been lost on certain adults. One woman wrote, “1776!! JULY 4TH!!!! JULY 4 SHOULD NOT BE A HOLIDAY THEN!!!!” and then went to use an expletive and the N-word.

“That was not the worst of them. There was one worse than that from a guy from Florida, and it was pornographic,” said Pat McCargo, referring to remarks left on a Facebook page run by the Cherry Hill African American Civic Association, which has expressed concerns about the invitation’s wording.

One of my own Facebook friends surprised and disappointed me by her assertion that this was “PC bulls–” and “bullying.”

Camera icon TOM GRALISH / FILE PHOTOGRAPH

A 2016 prom at the National Constitution Center, venue for the 2018 Cherry Hill East prom.

When I told historian Hasan Kwame Jeffries of Ohio State University about her posting, he pointed out that this “isn’t about political correctness, it’s about historical accuracy.”

“The nation was founded on inequality,” said Jeffries, who’s the author of Bloody Lowndes: Civil Rights and Black Power in America’s Black Belt. “Those parents are right to question this. There was no party for black folks in 1776.”

Some slave owners promised freedom for Africans who fought on their side but reneged once the war was won. The British made similar overtures. But ultimately, the Revolutionary War wasn’t about freedom for blacks — just whites. Nearly a century would pass before the Emancipation Proclamation, which effectively ended slavery. And that is America’s sad, sorry legacy.

“It’s funny because this school stumbled upon something that we, as a nation, have not reconciled,” Jeffries said. “How do we deal with the idea that this nation was founded on inequality?”

Just last year, the South Jersey school district found itself grappling with similar racial issues shortly before its award-winning production of Ragtime. A parent had complained about the show’s use of the N-word, which prompted the civic association and the Camden County East branch of the NAACP to voice objections and petition the district to scrap the play.

The district responded by developing a special curriculum to discuss race and the production’s use of the slur. East’s student population is predominantly white.

As someone who has felt the sting of invisibility that comes with being a racial minority in a predominantly white high school, believe me when I tell you it’s a lonely place to be. I wholeheartedly applaud the district’s efforts to try to be sensitive to the needs of all of its students — not just the ones in the racial majority.

Cherry Hill East students will not be required to present tickets to gain admission to the prom this year. And Perry, the high school’s principal, has promised to institute safeguards that would allow a diverse group of people to review information before it’s released.

The great abolitionist Frederick Douglass had this to say about 1776 and the nation’s annual independence holiday: “What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July?

“…To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass-fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery… — a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages.”

So, party like it’s 1776? Um, let’s not.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3982986&forum_id=2#36116622)