I grew up in North Alabama, back in the 1970's, when dinosaurs still roamed the earthâ¦
Speaking of course of the Three Great Alabama Icons⦠George Wallace, Bear Bry ant and Ronnie Van Zant⦠Now Ronnie Van Zant wasn't from Alabama, he was from Florida⦠He was a huge Neil Young fan⦠But in the tradition of Merle Haggar d writin' Okie from Muskogee to tell his dad's point of view about the hippies ' n Vietnam, Ronnie felt that the other side of the story should be told. And Nei l Young always claimed that Sweet Home Alabama was one of his favorite songs. A nd legend has it that he was an honorary pall bearer at Ronnie's funeral⦠such is the Duality of the Southern Thing⦠And Bear Bryant wore a cool lookin' re d checkered hat and won football games⦠and there's few things more loved in A labama than football and the men who know how to win at it⦠So when the Bear would come to town, there'd be a parade. And me, I was one a' them pussy boysâ ¦ cause I hated football, so I got a guitar⦠but a guitar was a poor substitut e for a football with the girls in my high school⦠So my band hit the road⦠and we didn't play no Skynyrd either⦠I came of age rebellin' against the mus ic in my high school parkin' lot⦠It wasn't till years later after leavin' the South for a while that I came to appreciate and understand the whole Skynyrd th ing and its misunderstood glory⦠I left the South and learned how different p eople's perceptions of the Southern Thing was from what I'd seen in my life⦠W hich leads us to George Wallace⦠Now Wallace was for all practical purposes t he Governor of Alabama from 1962 until 1986⦠Once, when a law prevented him fr om succeeding himself he ran his wife Lerline in his place and she won by a lan dslide⦠He's most famous as the belligerent racist voice of the segregationist South⦠Standing in the doorways of schools and waging a political war against a Federal Government that he decried as hypocritical⦠And Wallace had started out as a lawyer and a judge with a very progressive and humanitarian track reco rd for a man of his time. But he lost his first bid for governor in 1958 by hed ging on the race issue, against a man who spoke out against integration⦠Wall ace ran again in '62 as a staunch segregationist and won big, and for the next d ecade spoke out loudly⦠He accused Kennedy and King of being communists. He w as constantly on national news, representing the âgoodâ people of Alabama⦠And you know race was only an issue on TV in the house that I grew up in⦠W allace was viewed as a man from another time and place⦠And when I first ventu red out of the South, I was shocked at how strongly Wallace was associated with Alabama and its people⦠Ya know racism is a worldwide problem and it's been s ince the beginning of recorded history⦠and it ain't just white and black⦠B ut thanks to George Wallace, it's always a little more convenient to play it wit h a Southern accent. And bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd attempted to show another si de of the South⦠One that certainly exists, but few saw beyond the rebel flagâ ¦ And this applies not only to their critics and detractors, but also from thei r fans and followers. So for a while, when Neil Young would come to town, he'd get death-threats down in Alabama⦠Ironically, in 1971, after a particularly r acially charged campaign, Wallace began backpedaling, and he opened up Alabama p olitics to minorities at a rate faster than most Northern states or the Federal Government. And Wallace spent the rest of his life trying to explain away his r acist past, and in 1982 won his last term in office with over 90% of the black v ote⦠Such is the Duality of the Southern Thing⦠And George Wallace died bac k in '98 and he's in Hell now, not because he's a racist⦠His track record as a judge and his late-life quest for redemption make a good argument for his bein g, at worst, no worse than most white men of his generation, North or South⦠But because of his blind ambition and his hunger for votes, he turned a blind ey e to the suffering of Black America. And he became a pawn in the fight against the Civil Rights cause⦠For
tunately for him, the Devil is also a Southernerâ¦
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