Coded, ancient the crease
Unlock the timers
And strike the chimers
In my sleep
Grab the coat, steal the fleece
From behind the curtain
It will most certain
-ly bring peace
To those with countless numbers
No longer cold nor hot
Like things that I will keep
And hide them in my sleep
Then even countless numbers
No longer cold nor hot
Like things that I will keep
And hide them in my sleep
Coded ancient
Oh brightness we shall see
Loaded up and at night when
We shall flee
Not to tread through the heavy life
Sink in the dream
On the right night
You'll find her waiting
Selling things for cheap
The things that I will keep
2008-11-24
2008-11-05
Bama, The Southern Thing, and Obama
I finally got to to to The Rock Show and see Drive-By Truckers live this past Monday night. It was a great night for me personally, as I'll detail sometime later. Right now, I want to share one small slice of my feelings and emotions about this Presidential election.
I didn't vote, straight up. The reasons behind that are many, but I'm at peace with how things worked out, generally speaking.
I have my misgivings about where this country - and I mean the people, not any institution - is headed. I hope and pray (Yes, to God, believe it or not) that things will get better for America. I do this despite being a realist and a cynic.
I came across a news article today that took me right back to northern Alabama and my Georgia home, though. In the context of last night's events, as well as how I feel in my heart, I felt compelled to juxtapose this essay next to one of my favorite DBT works.
I don't hold out much hope for Obama helping the economy, fixing our national defense strategy or foreign policy - at least not in the next 24 months. But I do know that reading (and understanding) everything below does give me hope and pride that our country has come a long way in 40 years.
Race and racism is still an issue in the USA, and it's probably bigger than many folks care to admit. It is the one thing that I believe will improve - hopefully MUCH more noticeably - in the coming four years.
If you ignore anything I've ever said or written, I beg you to read what follows. Then re-read it. Think about it, and take it to heart. Better yet, let me know what you think afterward.
I guarantee you'll come away better for it. I know I did.
I grew up in North Alabama, back in the 1970's, when dinosaurs still roamed the earth
I'm speaking of course of the Three Great Alabama Icons:
George Wallace, Bear Bryant 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 Haggard 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 Neil Young always claimed that "Sweet Home Alabama" was one of his favorite songs. And 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' red checkered hat and won football games
And there's few things more loved in Alabama 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 boys 'cause I hated football, so I got a guitar
But a guitar was a poor substitute 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 music 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 thing and its misunderstood glory
I left the South and learned how different people's perceptions of the Southern Thing was from what I'd seen in my life
Which leads us to George Wallace
Now Wallace was for all practical purposes the Governor of Alabama from 1962 until 1986 Once, when a law prevented him from succeeding himself he ran his wife Lurleen in his place and she won by a landslide
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 record for a man of his time. But he lost his first bid for governor in 1958 by hedging on the race issue, against a man who spoke out against integration
Wallace ran again in '62 as a staunch segregationist and won big, and for the next decade spoke out loudly
He accused Kennedy and King of being communists. He was constantly on national news, representing the "good� people of Alabama"
And you know race was only an issue on TV in the house that I grew up in
Wallace was viewed as a man from another time and place
And when I first ventured 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 has been since the beginning of recorded history
and it ain't just white and black
But thanks to George Wallace, it's always a little more convenient to play it with a Southern accent.
And bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd attempted to show another side of the South
One that certainly exists, but few saw beyond the rebel flag
And this applies not only to their critics and detractors, but also from their 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 racially charged campaign, Wallace began backpedaling, and he opened up Alabama politics 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 racist past, and in 1982 won his last term in office with over 90% of the black vote
Such is the Duality of the Southern Thing
And George Wallace died back 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 being, 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 eye to the suffering of Black America. And he became a pawn in the fight against the Civil Rights cause
Fortunately for him, the Devil is also a Southerner...
- Patterson Hood
Now, in that same vein, something that stirred my Southern heart, despite the fact that (as one of my best friends put it) Obama is definitely not my guy:
I didn't vote, straight up. The reasons behind that are many, but I'm at peace with how things worked out, generally speaking.
I have my misgivings about where this country - and I mean the people, not any institution - is headed. I hope and pray (Yes, to God, believe it or not) that things will get better for America. I do this despite being a realist and a cynic.
I came across a news article today that took me right back to northern Alabama and my Georgia home, though. In the context of last night's events, as well as how I feel in my heart, I felt compelled to juxtapose this essay next to one of my favorite DBT works.
I don't hold out much hope for Obama helping the economy, fixing our national defense strategy or foreign policy - at least not in the next 24 months. But I do know that reading (and understanding) everything below does give me hope and pride that our country has come a long way in 40 years.
Race and racism is still an issue in the USA, and it's probably bigger than many folks care to admit. It is the one thing that I believe will improve - hopefully MUCH more noticeably - in the coming four years.
If you ignore anything I've ever said or written, I beg you to read what follows. Then re-read it. Think about it, and take it to heart. Better yet, let me know what you think afterward.
I guarantee you'll come away better for it. I know I did.
I grew up in North Alabama, back in the 1970's, when dinosaurs still roamed the earth
I'm speaking of course of the Three Great Alabama Icons:
George Wallace, Bear Bryant 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 Haggard 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 Neil Young always claimed that "Sweet Home Alabama" was one of his favorite songs. And 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' red checkered hat and won football games
And there's few things more loved in Alabama 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 boys 'cause I hated football, so I got a guitar
But a guitar was a poor substitute 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 music 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 thing and its misunderstood glory
I left the South and learned how different people's perceptions of the Southern Thing was from what I'd seen in my life
Which leads us to George Wallace
Now Wallace was for all practical purposes the Governor of Alabama from 1962 until 1986 Once, when a law prevented him from succeeding himself he ran his wife Lurleen in his place and she won by a landslide
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 record for a man of his time. But he lost his first bid for governor in 1958 by hedging on the race issue, against a man who spoke out against integration
Wallace ran again in '62 as a staunch segregationist and won big, and for the next decade spoke out loudly
He accused Kennedy and King of being communists. He was constantly on national news, representing the "good� people of Alabama"
And you know race was only an issue on TV in the house that I grew up in
Wallace was viewed as a man from another time and place
And when I first ventured 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 has been since the beginning of recorded history
and it ain't just white and black
But thanks to George Wallace, it's always a little more convenient to play it with a Southern accent.
And bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd attempted to show another side of the South
One that certainly exists, but few saw beyond the rebel flag
And this applies not only to their critics and detractors, but also from their 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 racially charged campaign, Wallace began backpedaling, and he opened up Alabama politics 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 racist past, and in 1982 won his last term in office with over 90% of the black vote
Such is the Duality of the Southern Thing
And George Wallace died back 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 being, 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 eye to the suffering of Black America. And he became a pawn in the fight against the Civil Rights cause
Fortunately for him, the Devil is also a Southerner...
- Patterson Hood
Now, in that same vein, something that stirred my Southern heart, despite the fact that (as one of my best friends put it) Obama is definitely not my guy:
By Peggy Wallace Kennedy
Special to CNN
Special to CNN
Editor's note: Peggy Wallace Kennedy is the daughter of George C. Wallace and Lurleen Wallace, who both were governors of Alabama. She lives in Montgomery, Alabama, with her husband, Mark Kennedy, a retired state Supreme Court justice. They have two sons, Leigh, a decorated veteran of the Iraq war, and Burns, a college sophomore.
Peggy Wallace Kennedy says her father sought absolution for his segregationist views.
MONTGOMERY, Alabama (CNN) -- I heard a car door slam behind me and turned to see an elderly but spry woman heading my way.
The night before, a gang of vandals had swept through the cemetery desecrating graves, crushing headstones and stealing funereal objects.
My parents' graves, situated on a wind-swept hill overlooking the cemetery, had not been spared. A large marble urn that stood between two granite columns had been pried loose and spirited away, leaving faded silk flowers strewn on the ground.
I was holding a bouquet of them in my arms when the woman walked up and gave me a crushing hug. "Honey," she said, "you don't know me, but when I saw you standing up here on this hill, I knew that you must be one of the girls and I couldn't help myself but to drive up here and let you know how much me and my whole family loved both of your parents. They were real special people."
I thanked her for her kind words as we stood side by side gazing down at the graves of Govs. George Wallace and Lurleen Wallace.
After a few moments, the woman leaned into me and spoke almost in a conspiratorial whisper. "I never thought I would live to see the day when a black would be running for president. I know your daddy must be rolling over in his grave."
Not having the heart or the energy to respond, I gave her bony arm a slight squeeze, turned and walked away. As I put the remnants of the graveyard spray in the trunk of my car, I assumed that she had not bothered to notice the Barack Obama sticker on my bumper.
When I was a young voter and had little interest in politics, my father would mark my ballot for me. As I thought about the woman in the cemetery, I mused that if he were alive and I had made the same request for this election, there would be a substantial chance, though not a certainty, that he would put an "X" by Obama's name.
Perhaps it would be the last chapter in his search for inner peace that became so important to him after becoming a victim of hatred and violence himself when he was shot and gravely injured in a Laurel, Maryland, shopping center parking lot. Perhaps it would be a way of reconciling in his own mind that what he once stood for did not prevent freedom of opportunity and self-advancement from coming full circle; his final absolution.
George Wallace and other Southern governors of his ilk stood defiantly in the 1950s and '60s in support of racial segregation, a culture of repression, violence and denial of basic human rights.
Their actions and the stark images of their consequences that spread across the world galvanized the nation and gave rise to a cry for an end to the American apartheid. The firestorms that were lit in Birmingham, Oxford, Memphis, Tuscaloosa, Montgomery, Little Rock and Selma were a call to arms to which the people responded.
And now a new call to arms has sounded as Americans face another assault on freedom. For if the stand in the schoolhouse door was a defining moment for George Wallace, then surely the aftermath of Katrina and the invasion of Iraq will be the same for George W. Bush.
The trampling of individual freedoms and his blatant contempt for the rights of the average American may not have been as obvious as an ax-handle-wielding governor, but Bush's insidiousness and piety have made him much more dangerous.
Healing must come, hope will be our lodestar, humility will reshape the American conscience, and honesty in both word and deed will refresh and invigorate America, and having Barack Obama to lead will give us back our power to heal.
My father lived long enough to come to an understanding of the injustices borne by his deeds and the legacy of suffering that they left behind. History will teach future generations that he was a man who used his political power to promote a philosophy of exclusion.
As his daughter, who witnessed his suffering in the twilight of his years and who witnessed his deeds and heard his words, I am one who believes that the man who, on March 7, 1965, listened to the reports of brutality as they streamed into the Governor's Mansion from Selma, Alabama, was not the same man who, in March of 1995, was welcomed with open arms as he was rolled through a sea of African-American men, women and children who gathered with him to welcome another generation of marchers, retracing in honor and remembrance the historic steps from Selma to Montgomery.
Four years ago, the young Illinois senator who spoke at the Democratic National Convention mesmerized me. I hoped even then that he would one day be my president.
Today, Barack Obama is hope for a better tomorrow for all Americans. He stands on the shoulders of all those people who have incessantly prayed for a day when "justice will run down like waters and righteousness as a mighty stream" (Amos 5:24).
Perhaps one day, my two sons and I will have the opportunity to meet Barack Obama in person to express our gratitude to him for bringing our family full circle.
And today, the day after the election, I am going to ride to the cemetery so that if asked, I can vouch for the fact that the world is still spinning but my father lies at peace.
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