I was on a long road trip several weeks ago, and Neil Young’s classic rock ballad “Southern Man” came on the radio. For those who don’t know this 1970 song or its history, Neil Young wrote it about the civil rights movement in the South, although a lot of Southerners took it as a general attack on them and their entire culture.
Young apologized for the song in a 2012 biography, saying the words were too “accusatory and condescending, not fully thought out, and too easy to misconstrue.” Would that the modern Left followed Young’s admonishment.
When the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd wrote their very successful 1974 song “Sweet Home Alabama,” they went after Young for the lyrics of “Southern Man.” They inserted the line: “I hope Neil Young will remember, a Southern man don’t need him around anyhow.”
Fortunately, since “Southern Man” was released on Neil Young’s album “After the Gold Rush,” the civil rights movement has been enormously successful. Despite what you hear from crazy academics, a biased media, and many liberal advocacy organizations, the kind of racial discrimination and violence against blacks that Young was singing about has largely disappeared in America. The racial discrimination that Young was targeting is not only illegal, but it has become morally unacceptable in our society.
All of that is for the good, and we should strive to preserve that accomplishment.
Sadly, however, the type of violence Young was criticizing has reappeared in our cities.
Only this time, the violence, often racially motivated, is being perpetrated by anarchists and organizations like Antifa and BLM.
Last summer, our cities were consumed by violence, often overshadowing the peaceful protests that were also occurring. We saw looting, arson, and attacks on law enforcement and federal buildings and federal officers. As happened in the 1960s’ South, when government officials did little or nothing to stop the violence of the KKK and other extremist groups, some liberal mayors and rogue prosecutors failed to stop it, some barely tried.
For example, the local district attorney in Multnomah County, Mike Schmidt, refused to prosecute the vast majority of criminal charges arising in Portland, Ore., from the street violence. The same is true of the mayor and governor of Portland and Oregon, Ted Wheeler and Kate Brown, who the Star Tribune newspaper said had “consistently indulged the rioters” and “hamstrung police by limiting anti-riot tactics.”
Neil Young has a reputation for revisiting and reconstituting his earliest works. His song “Harvest” from 1972 yielded “Harvest Moon“ in 1992. Mr. Young is currently working on a new album with his old band, Crazy Horse, in Colorado, the same band that performed “Southern Man” when it first came out. Hopefully he is aware of the anarchist, racist violence perpetrated by Antifa and other extremist organizations. Maybe he can update the story.
Here are some ideas, Neil; feel free to copy them, and let me know if you could use me in Colorado.
Southern Antifa Man
Southern Antifa man, better keep your head
Don’t forget what your good anarchist book said
Southern Marxist change gonna come at last
Now your crosses you’re lootin’ and cities are burning fast
Southern Antifa man
I saw cotton masks and I saw black BLM
Tall white mansions and little shacks lies, hate, and violent attacks
Southern Antifa man, when will you pay them back get paid back?
I heard bullwhips cracking the screamin’ of your victims
How long? How long [will this go on]? How?
Southern Antifa man, better keep your head
Don’t forget what your good book liberal mayors said
Southern Marxist change gonna come at last
Now your crosses are our society is burning fast
Southern Antifa man
Lily Belle Antifa, your hair is golden brown hate for America is profound
I’ve seen your black man violence comin’ round
Swear by God I’m gonna cut him down we’re protectin’ our ground
I heard screamin’ and bullwhips cracking the screamin’ of your victims
How long? How long [will this go on]? How?
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