Posted on 08/05/2004 5:26:28 AM PDT by wmichgrad
DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — Charlie Daniels, the man who wrote and sang "This Ain't No Rag, It's a Flag," is drawing heat from Arab-Americans who say it refers to a derogatory term used against them.
Daniels, 67, is scheduled to perform Saturday in Dearborn, the center of southeastern Michigan's 300,000-member Arab-American community.
After the Sept. 11 terror attacks, Daniels wrote and recorded the song, which became a country hit.
It begins:
"This ain't no rag, it's a flag and we don't wear it on our heads. It's a symbol of the land where the good guys live. Are you listening to what I said?"
On Saturday, the Charlie Daniels Band will perform at the city-sponsored Homecoming Festival.
"Someone who is trying to get popular through bigotry, bias and hatred should not be welcome, especially in a city like Dearborn with its rich diversity," Imad Hamad, regional director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, told the Detroit Free Press.
City spokeswoman Mary Laundroche said no formal complaints have been received about the performance and the show will go on.
"Ragheads" is a slur used against Arabs, Muslims and others who wear turbans or cover their heads.
Daniels says the song is not directed at Arabs and Muslims in general, just at turbaned terrorists like Osama bin Laden.
"It's not anti-Arab or anti-anything," he said Wednesday by phone from Tennessee, where he lives. "The only thing it's `anti' is the people who bombed us on 9/11. I have people who say you're putting down people who wear turbans. I'm not."
"There are good Arabs and bad Arabs, good Greeks and bad Greeks, good people and bad people in any race," Daniels said. "I'm not a racist person. I came up during the old Jim Crow days. I know what racism is."
Ping - time for another duet :-)
ROTFL. The more I read your comments the more I am convinced you are not only an idiot, but you really know nothing about Dearborn but what you read.
Charlie Daniels doesn't need a Muslim fan club. He's doing just fine.
Thanks for the chilling info Happy. We'll sit right here and let PC (all in the name of freedom) whip us down and wonder what the hell happened when it becomes reality......IMHO.
Bump!
Charlie Daniels is talking LIVE with Michael Savage right now.
Thanks for the ping. Please let us know if any of this comes up.
You went to HFCC? or UMD?
My bad Happy.........you're right. It IS a reality. :(
But a reality that must be fully appreciated for what it might eventually bring on the future of our country.
Thanks for the ping.
Saudi Arabia - Conversion by a Muslim to another religion is punishable by death. Bibles are illegal. Churches are illegal.
Yemen - Bans proselytizing by non-Muslims and forbids conversions. The Government does not allow the building of new non-Muslim places of worship.
Kuwait - Registration and licensing of religious groups. Members of religions not sanctioned in the Koran may not build places of worship. Prohibits organized religious education for religions other than Islam.
Egypt -Islam is the official state religion and primary source of legislation. Accordingly, religious practices that conflict with Islamic law are prohibited. Muslims may face legal problems if they convert to another faith. Requires non-Muslims to obtain what is now a presidential decree to build a place of worship.
Algeria - The law prohibits public assembly for purposes of practicing a faith other than Islam. Non-Islamic proselytizing is illegal, and the Government restricts the importation of non-Islamic literature for distribution.
Jordan - Has the death penalty for any Muslim selling land to a Jew.
......worth repeating!!!
You're right, I don't know anything. I don't have friends who work for the government who have made me aware of Dearborn and the threat that a certain population there represents or anything like that.
Keep telling yourself that.
You're very welcome Happy and thanks to you too. We have just got to get back to basics, so to speak and quit worrying about who is offended especially in these times. Every day there are those in our society just lying in wait to be offended.....just waiting for the moment to cry "RACISM"........and I say to them "GET OVER IT"!
Maybe we should call 'em "little sheet heads."
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