Southern man

In 1831, Alexis de Tocqueville and Gustave de Beaumont traveled to the United States to see a "great republic." de Tocqueville's magnus opus Democracy in America is a testament to the greatness of our nation.

de Tocqueville writes:

the prejudice of race appears to be stronger in the states that have abolished slavery than in those where it still exists; and nowhere is it so intolerant as in those states where servitude has never been known (emphasis added).

In the South, where slavery still exists, the Negroes are less carefully kept apart; they sometimes share the labors and the recreations of the whites; the whites consent to intermix with them to a certain extent, and although legislation treats them more harshly, the habits of the people are more tolerant and compassionate. In the South the master is not afraid to raise his slave to his own standing, because he knows that he can in a moment reduce him to the dust at pleasure. In the North the white no longer distinctly perceives the barrier that separates him from the degraded race, and he shuns the Negro with the more pertinacity since he fears lest they should some day be confounded together (emphasis added).

Time passed. Christian conservatives lead the way. 600,000 Americans died during 5 years of bloody war to end slavery. A Republican president charted our course.

Time passed. Jim Crow. Plessey v. Ferguson. Southern Democrats institutionalized segregation by passing laws. The Supreme Court upheld those laws and created "super-precedents," which Senator Specter worships. Neil Young sings in Southern Man:

Southern man
better keep your head
Don't forget
what your good book said
Southern change
gonna come at last
Now your crosses
are burning fast
Southern man

I saw cotton
and I saw black
Tall white mansions
and little shacks.
Southern man
when will you
pay them back?
I heard screamin'
and bullwhips cracking
How long? How long?

Southern man
better keep your head
Don't forget
what your good book said
Southern change
gonna come at last
Now your crosses
are burning fast
Southern man

Lily Belle,
your hair is golden brown
I've seen your black man
comin' round
Swear by God
I'm gonna cut him down!
I heard screamin'
and bullwhips cracking
How long? How long?

Time passed. A Southern preacher lead the way. In 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr., stood in the shadows of a fallen American and poured out his soul. In his speech, "I Have a Dream," King told us:

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.

Four and half years later, another great American was slain. But their words live on.

Southerners responded to Young's criticism. Lynyrd Skynyrd sang in "Sweet Home Alabama,"

Well I heard mister Young sing about her
Well, I heard ole Neil put her down
Well, I hope Neil Young will remember
A Southern man don't need him around anyhow

I was born in the South. I went to college in the South. I lived more than half my life in the South. Even though I live in a Border State, I will always think of myself as a Southerner. A few years ago, work took me to the North. There I observed the truism of de Tocqueville's observations eight score years later. Some of the most blantantly racist people I have ever known live in a state where only 0.7% of the population is black.

I say, Amen, Ronnie. Neil, up yours!