NAACP Delegate Calls for Boycott of Country Music!

First Baptist Church (Foot-Washing) of Cordele, Georgia Bulletin | Summer 2002 | Ralph P. Stansberry, Deacon

[parsifal]

NAACP Delegate Calls for Boycott of Country Music!

Rev. Mohammed X. Bagheera, delegate at large to the recent NAACP convention, called for a boycott of Country and Western Music. Rev. Bagheera was known as Leroy T. Washington before his conversion to Islam and once lived in Albany, Georgia. Asked about his call for a boycott, Rev. Bagheera offered this insight into his past: "I remember being chased down a dirt road by two good old white boys in a pickup truck. They had Honky Hank Williams blaring on the radio as they was chasing me. He was moanin'some kind of blues as I remember. If that song hadn't ended and the station started playing a religious song, "On The Wings of a Dove", I figure I would have been a goner. A thing like that will mark you, for sure."

It was pointed out that in a recent Music City poll, less than one percent of Black-Americans listened to Country and Western Music. Rev. Bagheera replied, "Well, it ain't the numbers that count, it's the thought. Nobody thought we could get the Confederate Flag down either, but we're winning that battle. We have even boycotted the whole state of South Carolina. We can sure boycott some radio stations."

Rev. Bagheera also lamented the lack of black country music magicians. "Everybody knows that Little Richard is responsible for country music as we know it today, but the only country music performer of color was Charlie Pride."

Representatives of several Nashville studios refused public comments, but privately stated that they foresaw little impact from the boycott. As one un-named executive pointed out, "Country and Western Music is no longer the resort of the uneducated red neck. Our demographics show the average consumer of "rural pop" as we classify C&W, makes nearly $6.00 per hour and drives a pickup truck that is less than three years old."

Rev. Bagheera was also questioned concerning the inclusion of "Western" music in the boycott. He pointed out, " They are just as bad as the country songs. A lot of them cowboy songs include racist code words. Take that song "Rawhide" for example. "Rope and throw and brand ‘em" refers to marking slaves. "Tumbling tumbleweeds" is code-talk for runaway slaves."

(Plea for Special Love Offering to counter the boycott omitted)

[Paul Atreides]

I am tempted to think that this is from The Onion or from your brilliant mind, if not for the fact that such people make such idiotic claims in real life. The worst part of it is, they are in positions of power!

[Skwidd]

'Honky' Hank Williams? That's funny!

[parsifal]

LOL! The same. Maybe sometimes run 'from' a woman, too.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Leroy T. Washington? Any relation to William ("jus' call me Willie") McKinley Jones, the Kenyan marathoner who changed his name from Kagwe Ndereba when he traded in the Mercedes he won in Boston for a Ford Ranger with shotgun rack and the Hank Williams box set? He asked if Dick Cheney could swear him in as a citizen so he could vote Republican, "all de lib-long day, doh-dah!".

[RJayneJ]

I think that anyone using the term 'honky' has their own bias and prejudices to deal with.

[Mo1]

I wonder if we should also boycott rap music because its lyrics often encourage violence and rape and refer to women as "bitches" and "hoes".

Oh I already do that ... can you think of something else

[raygun]

All your Bagheera are belong to us.

[RichInOC]

I bet Charley Pride is not going to like this one little bit.

[Ben Hecks]

Actually, I went over to www.landoverbaptist.org to see if they were also carrying this story.

[Paul Atreides]

When you consider Maxine Waters, Cynthia McKinney, Major Owens, Jesse, Al, Joycelyn Elders, and Sheila Jackson Lee, it would be EASY to believe this thread.

[Paul Atreides]

Who was that other black country singer from a few years ago? He was a skinny guy.

[alnick]

Did you live in Albany? I did, in 1971.

I guess this character is free to boycott C&W music. I mean, I've been boycotting rap "music" ever since it came out, for all the good it's done. LOL.

[Lower55]

Was it Lee (Roy) Greenwood? He's skinny.

[parsifal]

I lived there about 10 years earlier. Dad was stationed at Turner. Loved the town. Great place to grow up. parsy.

[Paul Atreides]

Lee Greenwood is white. He sang God Bless The U.S.A. I just cannot remember this guy's name.

[Texas Eagle]

"NAACP Delegate Calls for Boycott of Country Music!"

Great. What a dilemna. Do I start listening to country music again just to poke NAAAA in the eye?

Or do I continue to refrain from listening to country music and thereby increase the odds of my not committing suicide?

[Paul Atreides]

Cleve Francis is his name.

[Paul Atreides]

Great. What a dilemna. Do I start listening to country music again just to poke NAAAA in the eye?

Or do I continue to refrain from listening to country music and thereby increase the odds of my not committing suicide?

You blast the country music on your car stereo, with the windows down, and you put on your walkman headphones and listen to your usual stuff. Just make sure you do this in the correct locations, as to tick off as many of the right people as possible.

[Paul Atreides]

Several years ago there was a song by a group called The Geezinslaws, titled "Help, I'm White and I Can't Get Down."

[20yearvet]

"They had Honky Hank Williams blaring on the radio as they was chasing me."

HONKY, HONKY, If I said " they had Nig**r ______ _______" What would the NAACP call me? (hint it starts with R)