Posted on 08/05/2004 12:44:25 PM PDT by television is just wrong
Charlie Daniels Angers Arab Community Email this Story
Aug 5, 9:47 AM (ET)
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."
Let us pray for Charlie Daniels safety there, we don't want him to be a target for an atttack...prayers for CD Band.
The Arabs are angry again? Cry me a river.
Well, granted, the flag is still flying (except in a few areas where it's the Mexican flag). The other two are a little debatable. About .95 out of 3 ain't good, IMHO.
F--K the arabs and their mammies too.
Anyone offended by Charlie Daniels is not a member of a "peace loving law abiding American community." They are part of the problem, not part of the solution.
They are probably also Democrats. Good chance they're NOT Arabs, or at least not Arab Americans (Imad excepted).
And just how ironic is that name?
LOL - Daniels was just on the Michael Savage show. Love it.
Tough "shi-ite!" Charlie's the Man!!
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