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More on the Accidental Racism of Brad Paisley

Yesterday I wrote about Brad Paisley’s Accidental Racist, his musical response to accusations of racism he faced for flying the rebel flag on his chest. Its message? The past is the past. Let’s get over it and move on.

But the song is worth further dissection because I think it reveals a great deal about why the GOP’s racist Southern Strategy was successful, and why it’s going to be tough for them to simply re-brand that strategy away in order to meet the challenge of demographic change.

For the uninitiated, the Southern Strategy was built on the ruins of … Read more “More on the Accidental Racism of Brad Paisley”

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The National “Conversation” Brad Paisley Would Like Us To Have About How He’s Not A Racist

Country singer Brad Paisley wants to have a national conversation on race. Paisley began that “conversation” with his single Accidental Racist, a painfully tortured defense against accusations of racism brought against him for wearing a rebel flag.

The rebel flag, I remind you, is a symbol of white supremacy, raised by the rebel army in defense of slavery, and then brought back after the war by the Ku Klux Klan as a symbol of resistance to Reconstruction.

The song includes a performance by rapper LL Cool Jay who provides the counterpoint in the conversation. He asks, among other things, that … Read more “The National “Conversation” Brad Paisley Would Like Us To Have About How He’s Not A Racist”