Dear Mr. Cool J... sit all the way down

"RIP Robert E. Lee" and "we'll forget the iron chains if you forget the gold chains"??? 


Okay, I had to pause and do this blog real quickly, since I need to get out and get my day started. However, I wanted to address this little song situation with Brad Paisley and LL Cool J. The song, Accidental Racist, goes a little something like this:




Songwriters: Smith, James Todd / Paisley, Brad / Miller, Lee Thomas

To the man that waited on me at the Starbucks down on Main, I hope you understand
When I put on that t-shirt, the only thing I meant to say is I'm a Skynyrd fan
The red flag on my chest somehow is like the elephant in the corner of the south
And I just walked him right in the room
Just a proud rebel son with an 'ol can of worms
Lookin' like I got a lot to learn but from my point of view


I'm just a white man comin' to you from the southland
Tryin' to understand what it's like not to be
I'm proud of where I'm from but not everything we've done
And it ain't like you and me can re-write history
Our generation didn't start this nation
We're still pickin' up the pieces, walkin' on eggshells, fightin' over yesterday
And caught between southern pride and southern blame



They called it Reconstruction, fixed the buildings, dried some tears
We're still siftin' through the rubble after a hundred-fifty years
I try to put myself in your shoes and that's a good place to begin
But it ain't like I can walk a mile in someone else's skin



'Cause I'm a white man livin' in the southland
Just like you I'm more than what you see
I'm proud of where I'm from but not everything we've done
And it ain't like you and me can re-write history
Our generation didn't start this nation
And we're still paying for the mistakes
That a bunch of folks made long before we came
And caught between southern pride and southern blame



Dear Mr. White Man, I wish you understood
What the world is really like when you're livin' in the hood
Just because my pants are saggin' doesn't mean I'm up to no good
You should try to get to know me, I really wish you would
Now my chains are gold but I'm still misunderstood
I wasn't there when Sherman's March turned the south into firewood
I want you to get paid but be a slave I never could
Feel like a new fangled Django, dodgin' invisible white hoods
So when I see that white cowboy hat, I'm thinkin' it's not all good
I guess we're both guilty of judgin' the cover not the book
I'd love to buy you a beer, conversate and clear the air
But I see that red flag and I think you wish I wasn't here



I'm just a white man
(If you don't judge my do-rag)
Comin' to you from the southland
(I won't judge your red flag)
Tryin' to understand what it's like not to be
I'm proud of where I'm from
(If you don't judge my gold chains)
But not everything we've done
(I'll forget the iron chains)
It ain't like you and me can re-write history
(Can't re-write history baby)



Oh, Dixieland
(The relationship between the Mason-Dixon needs some fixin')
I hope you understand what this is all about
(Quite frankly I'm a black Yankee but I've been thinkin' about this lately)
I'm a son of the new south
(The past is the past, you feel me)
And I just want to make things right
(Let bygones be bygones)
Where all that's left is southern pride
(RIP Robert E. Lee but I've gotta thank Abraham Lincoln for freeing me, know what I mean)
It's real, it's real
It's truth


I understand WHY they did the song, but before you do a song, I need you to know your own dang history. First of all LL Cool J, you're not from the south, so I don't know why you did not take a moment to explore the actual relationship between Black people and White people here. Further, I agree with the premise... some people are accidentally racist. Living here, I have witnessed it repeatedly. Some things have been so ingrained in people that they take it as truth versus racism. And all too often people do not do anything to learn differently.

But let me clear some things up. Not all Black people live in the hood, sag their pants or wear gold chains. Just as not all White people in the south run around with confederate flags. 

But that's not my point. The point is... In the song LL's lines are so beyond repulsive, that I don't know what to say about them. "RIP Robert E. Lee" is one line... I guess he didn't know of any of the Black folks who were slain in Robert E. Lee's war, or the lynchings that occurred for several decades afterwards? I mean...I don't know. 

He sounds even more ignorant when he goes on to say "We'll forget the iron chains, if you forget our gold chains." Okay...WHAT?! So Black people are going to ignore Slavery's occurrence if White people can over look black people wearing jewelry? 

Something is way out of balance here. LL Cool J needs more than a history lesson, he needs a muzzle. Maybe he felt he was doing something profound? Maybe the song was just a conversation starter? Well...kudos! You started a conversation, but at the same time you've once again dehumanized and debased your own people. Robert E. Lee would be proud. 

I will be the last person to tell Robert E. Lee to rest in peace. If I didn't know the lawd...I'd be more apt to tell the joker to burn down with devil :) LOL

The real problem is feeding the stereotype that Black people are somehow visiting pain to White people in the ways Slavery, Jim Crow, Black codes and lynchings brought pain to Black people. Let's be honest. Though Black people are arrested, charged, convicted, and sentenced at disproportionate rates than White people in this country (that's another subject...because the crimes are not committed at higher rates) the crimes are typically against OTHER BLACK PEOPLE! Got dang! 

I wish someone would arrest and throw LL in prison for this foolish song. It is dismissive of actual occurrences. Trayvon Martin was murdered last year, not 150 years ago. 


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