This is the first line of one of his tunes called 'The Guitar Says Sorry' - it's about a young girl that gets pregnant from a Black dude in England in, I think the 1960s.
Interesting that when I was there for a short time in the 1980s, I saw many, many mixed race couples. Lots of mixed race babies, lots of Black Mums and White Dads and vice versa. Was it because the UK had their own form of Segregation and the Government outlawed it? People said "..fuck it....let's all get together to piss off our Mums and Dads..." Knowing the Brits, that's probably the reason. They love to be different. Almost every Brit that I have met tends to be oddball and not afraid to speak his/her mind. My ancestry comes from Scotland so maybe that's why I can't keep my mouth shut.
So, let's talk about the current climate in the USA. A statue of Robert E. Lee in Virginia is being threatened. A statue of Christopher Columbus is being destroyed in Boston, MA. Everyone is up in arms (again!) about the Confederate Flag. This last one - it's just fucking ridiculous! The country Group 'Lady Antebellum' is renaming themselves to just Lady A - why? Because Antebellum describes the architecture of the plantation homes in the South. Oh, and plantations meant slavery! Ooooh...I'm soooo offended....I'm gonna burn all their CDs and tour t-shirts! I'm gonna protest outside their concerts! Ooooohhh......shut the fuck up! Seriously!?
Now, I'm going to quote some things from memory here. If I get it wrong, I apologize. I'm not going to cite sources, so its just all off of the top of my head.
Let's start with Robert E Lee. He lead the Confederate Army fighting the Union Soldiers of the North. He had some oddball viewpoints of slavery, for and against. However, this shows me that the man was able to think for himself, not that he was a racist.
Christopher Columbus. This one is a Pandora's Box. He's the dude that discovered the Caribbean Islands, which led to the settlement of North America by the Europeans. Like everyone, he was greedy and wanted gold. This led to animosity by the indigenous folks, and the shit hit the fan. I don't condone the massacres, but let's think about today. What happens when someone wrongs you? You fight back, whether you tossed the first spear, fired the first arrow, or in our case, launched the first drone. If you kick a dog enough times, he's gonna bite you. Was he a racist? I don't know. I think like every other White European, he thought he was superior to anyone else. Especially if they paraded around the jungle half-nekkid and worshipped statues and birds.
Confederate Flag - personally, I think it has some nice colours. I like it. However, it was used as a racist symbol by the Ku Klux Klan and the Aryans and other White Supremacy Groups. However, it was originally created as a symbol of pride and sovereignty. I think it was a great big 'Fuck You' to the Yankees, above the Mason Dixon Line, saying "..we're gonna do our thing...we don't like your ways, Yankee!!..." In those days, no one thought about racism. The word Negro was tossed around constantly, and the other word, that rhymes with 'bigger' was also tossed around. That is the way it was. We were barbaric, un-evolved, greedy and ruthless. However, that was centuries ago.
Speaking of flags, you could argue that the Stars and Stripes Flag is racist too.
Take a look at the map - New Hampshire had slaves! Six years before Confederation! How about that? So, does that make the Old Glory a racist symbol too? My point - it's bullshit. All of it. When I see the Confederate Flag, I think of two things: The Dukes of Hazzard - The General Lee Car or a Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers concert. Are those two things racist? Not to me.
Finally - Lady Antebellum - so, because this represented something to do with the South and Plantations, it's racist. Seriously? Do you think that the architects and designers said "..okay, let's design these houses to be racist symbols, because we're going to make a shit-load of money as we have all this free labour...let's all be racist..." No, slavery was a way of life. Oh and while we're at it, let's make Washington DC racist! The White House and The Capitol Building, both were built using slave labour. So, let's make them racist symbols too! Tear 'em down!!! (Yeah, that's gonna go over REAL well, isn't it?)
So, my point? Well, our ancestors were dicks. Total dicks. They kept slaves, whipped and beat them, killed Indians just, well because, beat their wives and kids to death sometimes, burned people accused of being Witches, frowned on, and ostracized homosexuality, but married 12 and 13 year old girls and banged them up like Nickel Balloons. What happens today if a 12 year old winds up sproggen? Someone calls the cops, and they are there faster than you can say 'child-molester' .
Our ancestors were total dicks - we all need to accept that fact and move on.
Get over yourselves people - seriously!
