Friday, July 21, 2023

COUNTRY SONG GOES TO NUMBER#1 ON COUNTRY CHARTS AS IT TOUCHES RACIAL NERVE

 





"Sucker punch somebody on a sidewalk

Carjack an old lady at a red light

Pull a gun on the owner of a liquor store

Ya think it's cool, well, act a fool if ya like"


I get it. . . . . Really, I do.

Small town folk know the struggle to survive, especially without big city jobs and opportunities.

Yet, they pull together as a close-knit community, helping each other to make it.

The other side of that coin is that they're not always quick to embrace newcomers, folks with different backgrounds, skin color or birthplace.

"You'se a Yankee, ain't cha?" was the first sentence spoken to me when Nena and I moved to Danville, Arkansas in 1970, the county seat of Yell County.

Of course, I didn't fight in the Civil War and, being from the Pacific Northwest, technically was not a "Yankee."

But, I understood.

I was not from "these parts."

But, back to Jason Aldean's Try That in A Small Town.

There's nothing in the lyrics I can't identify with and I went over them with an Arkansas "fine tooth comb."

The video is another thing as its squarely aimed at Black Lives Matter.

Many whites, including some of my close friends, think Blacks should just "get over it."

These people also say and feel that they've not exhibited even a hint of racism in their own lives and tire of "one race" blanketed with the racist charge.

Some even repeat the talking point:  "It was White people that ended racism."

Well, I'm not sure racism is close to ending despite that self back pat.

It might not help, but I wish some of these folks could sit through a 400 year montage of lynchings, tar and featherings, segregated schools, lost job, housing and educational opportunities, gerrymandering, etc.

But, like I said, it wouldn't help.


"Got a gun that my granddad gave me
They say one day they're gonna round up
Well, that shit might fly in the city, good luck"




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