It is all too easy to use 'racist' to describe someone. It seems to have lost its meaning. In fact, conservatives are likely to make you think that they no longer exist: that we are all color-blind now.
But here's the truth: racism isn't just alive, its well. Toby Keith has gone on a publicity tour supporting his new album, singing the song "Beer For My Horses on The Colbert Report and will play it on The Tonight Show. The song, among other things, glorifies lynching, the Jim Crow South, and vigilante 'justice' and terrorism.
If you want to read more about it, check out this article here, but I must warn you that its pictures are graphic.
If this is the symbol of patriotism, don't you wish there were another option?
But here's the truth: racism isn't just alive, its well. Toby Keith has gone on a publicity tour supporting his new album, singing the song "Beer For My Horses on The Colbert Report and will play it on The Tonight Show. The song, among other things, glorifies lynching, the Jim Crow South, and vigilante 'justice' and terrorism.
If you want to read more about it, check out this article here, but I must warn you that its pictures are graphic.
If this is the symbol of patriotism, don't you wish there were another option?
4 comments:
I think that you guys are be freaking stupid about this. Long before lynching was used as a racial tool it was the law of the land. Not just in the south; but everywhere in the United States. If you want to hear something racist listen to some Johny Rebel or David Allen Coe.
I appreciate your sentiment, Zach, and I understand that you think I am "stupid about this". Suggesting that lynching had a historic position that is not entirely racist is legit. But it is like saying the Dixie flag isn't racist. It is much more than simply linked with slavery, but was used to defend white supremacism in the late 19th and throughout the 20th century. It is a historical fact that lynching was used by whites to instill fear in blacks--without regards to justice.
And I'm from Michigan--I know what racism can look like--but the South's history of lynching is iconic.
I'm not a Toby Keith supporter by any means. But the song "Beer for my horses has no relevance to racism. Look at the lyrics of the song. The term "lynching" may be associated with racism, but hanging in general was used all over the world. The song simply says, back in the day people paid severely for the crimes they committed, and that should be the case now. There is no reference to black, white, hispanic, or anything. But to say that because he talks about hanging people he must be talking about blacks is just ignorant. It would be like saying that because the guillotine was used in the French Revolution, it's a symbol of racism against the French
Further, I'll buy that racism may exist today. But it does not exist nearly to the degree that the media makes it out to be. A lot of it is excuses and people getting offended over trivial matters. Don't believe me? Then why is it in our society that only white people can be racist? Only white people are ever accused of racism, even though blacks use the N word and so on. There are radical whites out there that are racist, yes. But they are so few in light of the whole population. My suggestion, stop claiming racism. Just brush it off your shoulder and be done with it. Besides, the ones who are claiming racism nowadays have no ties to the times when racism was throbbing. They're great grandparents and grandparents went through it. Maybe they're parents caught the tail end of it. Stop getting mad about something that happened to your ancestors and not you
Post a Comment