Have over-the-top proms replaced weddings for black Americans?

As more people share their big life moments on social media, the more extravagant “ghetto prom” videos have flooded everyone’s timelines — featuring red carpets, flashy outfits, and expensive cars.

“They’re spending a lot of money on these proms, going to a lot of trouble and expense for these proms,” BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock comments, sharing a recent tweet that brought this to his attention.

“A white woman on tiktok said that ‘ghetto prom’ is flashy and over the top because it’s the closest thing they have in their culture to weddings. She got dragged for saying it, but many black people in the comments begrudgingly agreed with her point,” Mary Morgan posted on X.

“Have things gotten so bad as it relates to marriage and family that we’ve started a new tradition that the prom is the peak of black love, and it has to be celebrated and money spent on it like it’s a wedding?”

Whitlock asks Delano Squires what he thinks.

“I think it’s a two-part thing,” Squires says, “One, the prom also signals the end of a high school career, so to speak. So there’s a celebration aspect in that respect.”

“But then it’s also this notion that, OK, boy and girl together, got on the dresses, you know, you’re renting nice cars, and so on and so forth,” he continues, pointing out that “in the age of the internet, these things are getting even more extravagant.”

In one clip of these young prom-goers, Squires points out that a boy was “flashing a wad of cash.”

“I’ve seen reports that that young man was actually killed,” he says. “I don’t know if he was killed on his prom night or at some point after that. And there’s an even larger overarching phenomenon that’s going on here, which is that in a lot of these communities, particularly for young men, to make it to the age of 21 or 25 is an accomplishment.”

“So part of the reason I think you see such over-the-top celebrations is because some of these proms are taking place in communities where there really is not a lot to celebrate and young men don’t live long enough to have a full life,” he continues.

“So,” he adds, “when you see this kid go from flashing stacks of money to now the quote-unquote celebration of life is going to be in the church where they’re laying him to rest. I can understand why people who live in those circumstances think … we have to throw a big bash because they’re living in a sort of cultural context where it’s like literally tomorrow is not promised today.”

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