What 'Accidental Racist' says about evolution of Southern identity
Love, heartbreak, patriotism, and partying have helped make country music the top-selling genre in the United States. Segregation and slavery? Not so much.
That is what would seem to make 鈥淎ccidental Racist,鈥� the new offering by country artist Brad Paisley, so unusual. The song, which has been blasted by critics as a playing down of racism, attempts to explore the thorny question of whether Southern whites are racist if they are proud of their Confederate heritage.
Yet 鈥淎ccidental Racist鈥� fits into a long tradition of Southern musicians trying in good faith to reflect on the region's complicated past. Whether it was the 鈥渉illbilly鈥� music marketed to whites from Appalachia and the Ozarks in the 1920s or Lynyrd Skynyrd鈥檚 response to Neil Young in 1974鈥檚 鈥淪weet Home Alabama, Southern musicians have sought to address the outsider鈥檚 perspective that Southern pride is tied to the legacy of slavery and the Civil War.
That tension is only growing in country music. As the genre gains more international popularity, many musicians are doubling down on 鈥淪outhern鈥� themes in an attempt to keep their music true to its roots.
鈥淭here is a tension right now in country music between a lot of songs producing a defiant stance saying, 鈥榃e are Southern, we are redneck鈥� 鈥� even though there are plenty of people who live in the South who see the Confederate flag as a symbol of hate,鈥� says Jocelyn Neal, director of the Center for the Study of the American South in Chapel Hill, N.C. 鈥淭hose two ideas are constantly in tension of each other.鈥�
Mr. Paisley wrote 鈥淎ccidental Racist鈥� with veteran rapper LL Cool J. In it, Paisley sings about walking into a Starbucks wearing a T-shirt brandishing the Confederate flag.
鈥淥ur generation didn鈥檛 start this nation/ We鈥檙e still picking up the pieces/ Walking on eggshells, fighting over yesterday and caught between Southern pride and Southern blame,鈥� he sings.
LL Cool J, playing the role of the Starbucks barista, responds: 鈥淚f you don鈥檛 trust my gold chains/ I鈥檒l forget the iron chains鈥� and 鈥渓et bygones be bygones.鈥�
Billboard magazine called the song 鈥渁 flat-footed apology for hate-induced uneasiness,鈥� while the Atlantic said the song鈥檚 assumption that 鈥渢here is no real difference among black people is exactly what racism is.鈥�
Country musicians can feel forced to address the complexities of rebel pride in their music because it remains an indelible component to the music鈥檚 Everyman identity, says Professor Neal.
鈥淐ountry music as a genre carries with it this association with Southern identity, specifically the Southern white identity, even though radio surveys continue to show the country music audience is more highly educated and better paid than record company executives assume they are,鈥� says Neal, who has written extensively about country music.
The quest to define that identity is decades old. The Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd used 鈥淪weet Home Alabama鈥� to respond to Neil Young鈥檚 鈥淪outhern Man,鈥� a song that disparaged white Southerners for refusing to own up to their racial history. Skynyrd鈥檚 Ronnie Van Zandt juxtaposes outrage over Southern segregationist George Wallace with the Watergate scandal, suggesting Northern liberals pick and choose what burdens their conscience, and that a region should not be prejudged by the actions of others.
For some performers, this debate resulted in songs that referenced the Confederate flag as a symbol of proud generational heritage, while others, from Merle Haggard to the Drive By Truckers, acknowledged deeper complexities with the past in their music.
The Truckers, a band that emerged in the late 1990s, addressed the conflict head-on in their 2001 song 鈥淭he Southern Thing鈥�: 鈥淵ou think I'm dumb, maybe not too bright/ You wonder how I sleep at night/ Proud of the glory, stare down the sham / Duality of the Southern thing,鈥� sings band leader Patterson Hood.
Paisley, who was born in Glen Dale, W.Va., does not appear jolted by the criticism, telling television hosts this week that the song was meant to start a discussion.
鈥淚鈥檓 not sure if we were going to find any answers, but it was the idea we would ask the question. In the end, what I felt we had on tape was something we felt people needed to hear,鈥� he told ABC News Tuesday.
