I just watched this terrific doc. off HBO GO the other day. I continue to be dazzled by the cavalcade of great documentaries that channel airs. I remember hearing, only a few years ago, (it made the national headlines) about that town in the South that STILL had it's black and white proms, and my jaw dropped...."Southern Rites" visits Montgomery County, Ga., one year after the town merged its racially segregated proms, and during a historic election campaign that may lead to its first African-American sheriff. Acclaimed photographer Gillian Laub, whose photos first brought the area unwanted notoriety, documents the repercussions when a white town resident is charged with the murder of a young black man. The case divides locals along well-worn racial lines, and the ensuing plea bargain and sentencing uncover complex truths and produce emotional revelations.I couldn't help but wonder, after some more complex things were revealed about the shooter, that we weren't being shown the entire story with this guy- or the whole situation. At first thought, you're thinking to yourself- okay, Southerner, bigot, racist guy shot this black kid down in cold blood. But then it's revealed he was *possible SPOILER* disowned by his own family for adopting his bi-racial niece (I think?). I think her interview near the end of the film maybe summed the whole situation up the best..?? Definitely check this out sometime. I think Northerners and Southerners alike will find some interesting aspects of a part of the country it's hard to believe still exists. Hopefully one day all this will be behind us, but sad to say, probably not anytime soon...

I can't say I "enjoyed" this - more like it horrified me that there was such segregation and racism still alive. The whole "black prom" and "white prom" is sickening to me.So it was very enlightening, but I felt like the main story of Norman Neesmith was pretty slanted and unfair. The whole time I was just saying "Where the hell was the daughter?" I don't want to write a spoiler, but none of this murder smacked of racism to me. The guy seemed like maybe he was in a rage, but the issue of the daughter wasn't raised until the very end, and her involvement and response to everything that happened that night was muted, at best. Also the lighting to make her look more white was kind of sad.Don't get me wrong, Norman Neesmith seems like something of an idiot and his whining about all this affected him makes you want to puke. But he raised a black child, had black children to his pool, and generally was anything but a racist.But the bias that you'd expect in a liberal activist's work aside, it really was interesting and moving.