Accidental Racist

"The song by the unlikely duo of Brad Paisley and LL Cool J, “Accidental Racist,” was slammed by music critics and fans alike for its attempt at a dialogue on race between two men from starkly different backgrounds with lyrics like “If you don’t judge my do-rag … I won’t judge your red flag” and “If you don’t judge my gold chains … I’ll forget the iron chains.”

The country singer, 40, and his rapper counterpart, 45, say the national debate sparked by their song, released on Paisley’s new album, “Wheelhouse,” is exactly what they wanted to happen.

“I’m not really sure we’re going to find any answers but it was the idea that we were asking the question,” Paisley said in an exclusive interview with his duet partner that aired today on “Good Morning America.”

“Martin Luther King says that darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can,” LL Cool J said. “Hate can’t drive out hate, only love can. So what we’re talking about is compassion.”

“Accidental Racist” focuses specifically on how northerners like LL Cool J, who grew up in New York City, view Southerners, like Paisley, a native of West Virginia, and vice versa.

WATCH: Brad Paisley Discusses Duet With LL Cool J

“I’m not advising anyone to truly forget slavery, but what I’m saying is forget the slavery mentality,” LL Cool J said. “Forget the bitterness. Don’t get bitter, get better.”

Critics have been especially harsh on specific lines in the song like LL Cool J’s singing “let bygones be bygones,” and Paisley singing that white Americans are “still paying for mistakes that a bunch of folks made before we came.”

“Some people take exception to some of the lyrics [and] I respect that,” LL Cool J said. “I’m sensitive to that.”


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You kind of have to hear the song to appreciate how truly horrible it is- but You Tube seems to have been scrubbed of it.

I don't understand why a black man wearing a gold chain is as offensive to white people as slavery is to black people (or to everyone for that matter). I don't understand why you'd wear a confederate flag to show your support of Lynyrd Skynyrd- is that really a thing? Would anyone wear a swastika to show they dig Wagner? And White People aren't being blamed for things that were done before they were born- but maybe they could take responsibility for things they did today?


Oh LL. What were you thinking?

Updated On: 4/10/13 at 10:14 AM

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Supposedly, LS tried to discontinue using the image of the confederate flag due to the racist connotation, but fans wouldnt have it so they brought it back claiming it as southern heritage.

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The problem with the song is that it makes sweeping generalizations about groups of people.


"And for some stupid reason, the damn flag is pretty popular over here in Sweden. Teenagers think it represents rebellion."

It's the same with the Che Guevera t-shirts and flags.

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This Op Ed piece from LZ Granderson sums the whole thing up correctly I think.


Link

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>> I don't understand why a black man wearing a gold chain is as offensive to white people as slavery is to black people

Just guessing, but I would think it has something to do with the attendant "thug" lifestyle of crime, abuse and tokenism of women, and drugs.

Personally, I think anyone wearing a gold chain, regardless of gender or skin colour, needs a stint at the Versachi School of Fashion Rehab, but that's just me.

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And I call BULLSH*T on anyone not knowing that it's offensive. They know. That's why they wear it.

That's a pretty sweeping generalization. I agree that a lot of people flying their rebel flags know full well that it's offensive. However, many young people blindly trust their parents (as they should be able to up to a certain age) and don't realize that things that are said flippantly and commonplace in their home are offensive.

My family is full of a lot of rednecks. There were confederate flags around a lot when I was a kid and my understanding at the time was that it was a "southern flag". That's what my parents told me. As an 8 year old kid there isn't shouldn't be any distrust or indication that your parents are wrong about something as simple as a flag.

Obviously as I got older I figured it out, but a lot of kids don't always go out into the world and see more than their surrounds.

I consider myself as having above average intelligence (well, slightly) and it took me putting my foot in my mouth with friends in my late teens before I learned that "spic" was an offensive term rather than just another name for Hispanic people. I also thought the phrase was "Chew them down" until I used it front a good Jewish friend in the Virgin Megastore in New York City. It all seems so silly and obvious as an adult in my mid 30s, but at the time it was all about opportunity and context in my small part of the world.

Just like it's naive and dangerous to make generalizations about any race, sexual orientation, gender etc I think it's equally so to make generalizations about "everyone and anyone" knowing that what they are doing is offensive to many people.

If anything, the fact that young people are still using the word gay and fag so flippantly to describe "things that are not cool" shows that there is no "bull**** on anyone not knowing that it's offensive".

People think that hateful words and symbols can have double meaning, but they don't always stop to think that the negative meaning for some people is just far too much to overlook.

"Just guessing, but I would think it has something to do with the attendant "thug" lifestyle of crime, abuse and tokenism of women, and drugs."

Except that Italian men have worn gold chains for a long time. Gold chains were a huge fashion item in the 1970s. The thug lifestyle didn't pick up the gold chains until everyone else was tired of wearing them.

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I lived in Tennessee on the Kentucky state line until I was 29. People in my family embraced the confederate flag, some going so far as to have it tattooed on body parts. Even if they consider it to be about heritage, they know what it represents to a lot of people. I have never worn or owned anything in my life with that flag. As a child, I knew better.

Maybe my statement was a sweeping generalization, but it is what I have witnessed first hand. If it's honestly a child or a mentally challenged person, I would chalk it up to ignorance, but there's no way an adult of full mental capacity doesn't know what it represents to a HUGE percentage of the population.

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Updated On: 4/10/13 at 11:20 AM

This song is so full of white guilt, its a joke and comparing gold chains to the iron chains of slavery is ridicilious. Talking about going to the starbucks over on main street. The maxon dixon needs some fixin. LOL

This song has to be a joke. Read the lyrics, its hilariously bad

And you know what I hate more than any skin color, orientation or antiquated belief? The fact that for some reason I can't edit my posts on this site despite many people being able to edit theirs.

Grrr. Arrrgh.

I don't like polyester shirts but they are not as bad as slavery.

Not even this one?

Fabric Racist.