I AM COUNTRY WHEN COUNTRY ISN'T COOL

-
Jamilah Lemieux
  Jamilah Lemieux, senior digital editor at Ebony magazine, was a guest on an MSNBC program called Now with Alex Wagner and was responding to remarks made by Ted Cruz about how he turned to country music after September 11, 2001. He thought that it was the only genre of music that addressed the anger that he was feeling as a result of the attack. She said “Nothing says ‘Let’s go kill some Muslims’ like country music.”  I have listened to country music for years and I have never heard a song that encouraged people to kill Muslims. I wonder how much country music that Ms. Lemieux listens to. For that matter I wonder how much rap she listens to. The following is a cop killer rap song by Ice-t.

I got my black shirt on
I got my black gloves on
I got my ski mask on
This s_ _t's been too long

I got my twelve gauge sawed off
I got my headlights turned off
I'm 'bout to bust some shots off
I'm 'bout to dust some cops off

Cop killer, better you than me
Cop killer, f_ _k police brutality
Cop killer, I know your family's grievin'
(f_ _k 'em)
Cop killer, but tonight we get even.

  This is one of many rap songs that not only talk about killing cops but gang violence and the degradation of women. There is nothing comparable in country music. On a personal and emotional level I can relate to what Cruz was saying. September 11th 2001 affected me in a way that no other national event ever has. The closest thing that could even compare was the assassination of John Kennedy. After September 11th I would fight back tears whenever I would see the flag waving, hear a patriotic song like the Star Spangled Banner, or God Bless America. I was feeling a range of emotions from anger, sorrow, and horror after watching innocent people forced to jump from a burning skyscraper. Then one day I was riding in my car when I first heard Toby Keith's (Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue). Immediately I connected with that song. I was cheering and crying at the same time. It was all I could do to sing the song without crying at karaoke and later I was even more affected when Daryll Worley's (Have You Forgotten?) came out. I will never forget the negative reaction of the left to the song and how they criticised Worley. Another song that I loved was Allen Jackson's (Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning?) No other genre of music addressed September 11th and what Americans were feeling like country music. For me it was therapeutic. At no time was I angry with Muslims in general. Like most Americans I wanted the guilty punished and nothing more. The music simply put me in touch with the raw emotion that I was feeling at the time and it reminded me of how much that I love this country. 

Toby Keith


Allen Jackson
   


Comments

  1. AnonymousMarch 31, 2015 at 1:34 AM

    Country Music is the creative wheel house for the heart and soul of America. I know a few people who don't like it; and I don't condemn them. Most of them have never really taken the time to listen to it. I can understand why black Americans don't care for it. But, I believe it transcends ethnicity, when composed in a tasteful manner.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THE DEATH OF JAYNE MANSFIELD

-
Image
Jayne Mansfield   Jayne Mansfield died way too young on June 29, 1967 at the age of 34 in a gruesome car wreck, She was killed instantly but contrary to urban legend she was not decapitated. Jayne was called the poor man's Marilyn Monroe. She had enjoyed about a four year stint of popularity on Broadway and in Hollywood from 1954 until 1958. Her career was in decline in the late 50's and early 60's but she was still popular in Europe and on the nightclub circuit. She took her last name from her high school sweetheart Paul Mansfield when she married him at the age of seventeen. Her second husband was a former Mr. Universe named Mickey Hargitay who was from Norway. The third and last husband was Matt Cimber. Mansfield was highly educated, attending Southern Methodist University, the University of Texas and U.C.L.A. She supposedly had an IQ of 163 and was called the smartest dumb blonde ever. Of course she couldn't be too smart. In 1966, a year before her death, while
Read more

NASHVILLE AND JESSE JAMES

-
Image
The James brothers with their mother Zerelda James   Most everyone has heard of the notorious outlaws Jesse and Frank James, however; did you know that they lived in Nashville from 1875 until March 1881? Jesse's oldest son Jesse James Jr. was born in Nashville along with his sister Mary. Jesse Jr. was born at 606 Boscobel Street on August 31, 1875. Mary was born on West Hamilton Road in Bordeaux on July 17, 1879. Jesse Jr. went by the name Tim and as far as he knew his last name was Howard. He and his sister would not know their real last names until after Jesse was killed in 1882. Jesse and his wife Zerelda would also lose two male twins in infancy.  Jesse's brother Frank lived on Clarksville Pike. While living there he and his wife Annie Ralston James gave birth to a son named Robert Franklin on February 6, 1877. For a time he would be dressed as a girl and go by the name of Mary. Why his parents did this I do not know.  The brothers were on the run. Nashville was
Read more

CHARLIE PARKHURST

-
Image
  Charlie Parkhurst aka One-eyed Charlie, Cockeyed Charlie, or Six Horse Charlie was born in 1812 in Vermont. Eventually he made his way out west to California where he became a teamster and one of the most skilled stagecoach drivers in history. He was small in stature but tough. Shortly after becoming a stagecoach driver for the California Stage Company he was kicked in the face by a horse and blinded in one eye. Charlie began his reputation as a tough driver when a robber named "Sugarfoot" held up his stage one day. Taken by surprise his only option was to give up his strong box. Six months later the Sugarfoot hit him again but Charlie was prepared this time. He blew him away with a shotgun at point blank range. Without blinking his good eye he rode off at a full gallop leaving the robber dead in the road.   He was an expert shot and an expert with a bull whip. Charlie could cut a cigar in half at fifteen paces while a man held it in his mouth. On one occasion he rolle
Read more