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."
People need to relax with people of their own culture.
BTTT
Charlie Daniels is a good man.
Not for you to decide, Habib. Charlie Daniels rocks.
Maybe they will get mad enough to get the hell out of the US.
I know what you meant Charlie...EVERYBODY knew what you meant after 9/11 but memories are short these days.
NEVER FORGET!
This story gives me a reason to go out and buy Charlie Daniels CD's.
Attention all ragheads: Put some ice on it.
Funny how the press gets its panties in a twist over a song like this but could care less about the incessant anti-Christian, anti-Southern, anti-military, and frankly anti-American bigotry used in mainstream music and movies...
So no one takes offense when they call Charlie a bigot and a racist, but when he mentions that he disagrees with Muslims who want to blow up American landmarks he is degrading an entire race. There are some things you can say to a white christian that if said about a Muslim or a homosexual would land you in jail, or at least publicly criticized.
Rock on Charlie. If you need help I'm sure Toby K. will back you up.
Diversity? Are there any white Christians in Dearborn?
Isn't that the way Prophet Mohammad became popular?
Big Deal. According to the press, the Arab community is always angry.
Damn, that's gonna cost him like, what, two-three record sales a year?
As an honorary Red Neck (my Platoon SGT used to call me "Billy-Joe Lonesome") lemme say the "Arab Community" has been angering me since before 9/11. If you don't like it here, there are planes to Cairo leaving every day.
And according to that same press, we made them that way.
Can someone post a link where Imad Hamad denounced Al Quaida, Osama bin Laden, and the attacks on the United States? Anybody?
I mean, it's not like Osama is trying to to do something really terrible like gain popularity through bigotry, bias, and hatred or anything, but I still think what he did stank to high heaven and deserves to be denounced at least as much as a song does.
Shalom.
Angry Muslim alert.
It seems like every day there is a story about angry Muslims.
The SOng is Great, Charlie is Great, and I hope sings it,I hope all of the country stations play it, especially in Detroit, every day from here on in.
A culture war is allreay happening around the free world, it is the moslem extremists vs the free world.
Ops4 God BLess America!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.