My dad who is from Henning, a very small town in west Tennessee, called my sister last night. A few minutes into their conversation, she told him that I was with her. After he greeted me in his own uniquely loving, “heyyy, you got a big head sweetheart,” way……..I busted out with, “don’t try it in a small town!” You gotta be quick on your feet in my family. The man quickly replied, “shut it. Don’t you sing that damn stupid song. I was having a good day and you just ruined it.” Of course he was being facetious. I didn’t actually ruin his day, but my lil ignant version mocking Jason Aldean was a perfect segue into us discussing the dog whistle that he calls a song.
I was eager to see what his reaction would be, having grown up in a good ol’ boy small town during the Jim Crow era. Our conversation continued and I asked him multiple questions about working with the thin blue line patriots in small, rural Alaska. What it felt like for him being the “accepted Black” amongst his white counterparts and how he managed holding his fellow officers accountable when he was always the major minority.
He shared how he often heard fellow white officers and Native officers use racial slurs against each other in private and how he knew he couldn’t trust it because what slurs were they calling him when he wasn’t present? One thing that never occurred in our household was the use of racial, homophobic, xenophobic slurs against anyone. My parents didn’t play that and if they heard others do it, they quickly checked them, I get it honestly.
We discussed how there has been several instances of racial violence that have taken place at the Maury County Courthouse including the hanging of a Black man, Henry Choate in 1927. Additionally, it served as a site for the Columbia Race Riot aka anti-Black violence in 1946. On top of all of that, Thurgood Marshall, the first black Supreme Court justice, came very close to being killed as a result of the anti-Black racial unrest. Good ol’ Jason’s team even wove newspaper articles into the video from The Petal Paper in Petal, Mississippi. Specifically a letter to the editor in the May 21, 1956 edition about the publisher, P.D. East. The letter was from a public relations consultant for the NAACP. They were well aware of what they were doing, this was far from coincidental.
He wrote that they get to see “many newspapers from across the country. But never have I seen anything that startled me as much as the March 15 issue of the Petal Paper with its incredible ridiculing of the White Citizens Council crowd,” the letter reads. “I’m referring specifically to the full-page ad I’m assuming you wrote entitled, ‘You too can be superior.’
“I hope I’m not congratulating a dead man, as this must have taken courage, and I’m hoping you are still with us,” it continues. “I’m mighty curious to know what must have happened after you exploded this blockbuster in your community.”
East responded to the letter by explaining to the writer that he was called an “N-Lover” that he lost “over 200 subscriptions,” and, in Collins words “was pretty much bothered and harassed in this small town.”
Don’t try it in a small town, huh? Mass shootings are more likely to occur in small towns. Uvalde. Sandy Hook. Bethel. Parkland. Columbine. Edmond. I could go on, but I am sure you get the jest of it. Jason could have easily made a song about true unity rather than a racist dog whistle with him belting out his ignorance on the steps of a site where violence against Black people occurred and was celebrated. He didn’t include the January 6 insurrection. He didn’t speak up for our children that are truly at risk of gun violence every single day that they attend school. He didn’t include the many current instances of racist violence against BIPOC, he included footage from BLM protests. He can play stupid, but we all know the truth. He created a sundown town anthem, intentionally. It’s the Donald Trump Effect. They are smart, they capitalize on those low life individuals that are ready to throw their coins (as little as they may be) at anything supporting their racist views, especially when it is anti-Black. All of his hills have eyes, inbred, unintelligent supporters will continue to revel in what they see is standing in their patriotic power, but the rest of us need to continue to speak up and be intentional when we see things like this. Namely, white people. Check your folks. Your family members, friends, coworkers, church members…..check them every chance that you get. Try THAT in a small town.
I enjoy conversations with my father, I always learn a lot. Which affirms exactly why I will continue to go so hard when it comes to racism. His stories always open my eyes to things I wasn’t aware of as well as shed light on issues that I need insight on.
ID: My sister’s hand holding her phone showing the call screen, displaying “Korruption” the call time at 5:50 and the call on speaker.
*And yes, we call him Korruption or Ralphie T. Everyone in our family has a nickname whether they want it or not. He despises Ralphie T., but he’s down with Korruption because it’s his rap name although he is far from a rapper..…..go figure.
