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""In Birmingham they love the governor" -- and that governor was George C. Wallace, who once proclaimed "segregration now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!"
But Lynyrd Skynyrd, who sings that line in their 1974 hit "Sweet Home Alabama" has, after almost four decades, decided that the Confederate flag will no longer be used as a backdrop at its concerts because its association has been hijacked by racist groups.
Gary Rossington, the only original member still in the band, and Johnny Van Zant, brother of original lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, were interviewed by CNN's
Fredricka Whitfield and set off a firestorm of protests from some fans, who are accusing the group of becoming politically correct.
The band quietly quit using the flag at some point, but protestations didn't ensue until after they talked about it on CNN.
WHITFIELD: You all very much underscore tradition. You know, there are real main stays in your music, you know, in your look, in your sound. Something that was associated with your band for a very long time, the confederate flag whether it was on your album covers or the back drop, we don't see that anymore. At what point did you make a decision to lose that or what was the evolution of that?
ROSSINGTON: Well, it became such an issue, you know, about race and stuff where we just had it, in the beginning, because we were southern. And that was our image back in the 70s and late 60s because they kind of branded us from being from the south so we showed that. But I think through the years, you know, people like the KKK and Skinheads and people have kind of kidnapped the dixie rebel flag from the southern tradition and the heritage of the soldiers. That's what it was about. And they kind of made it look bad in certain ways. So we didn't want that to go to our fans or show the image like we agree with any of the race stuff or any of the bad things.
VAN ZANT: If nothing else we grew up loving old blues artists and Ray Charles, you know. So, you know, we just didn't want to be associated with that particular thing."
""In Birmingham they love the governor" -- and that governor was George C. Wallace, who once proclaimed "segregration now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!"
But Lynyrd Skynyrd, who sings that line in their 1974 hit "Sweet Home Alabama" has, after almost four decades, decided that the Confederate flag will no longer be used as a backdrop at its concerts because its association has been hijacked by racist groups.
Gary Rossington, the only original member still in the band, and Johnny Van Zant, brother of original lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, were interviewed by CNN's
Fredricka Whitfield and set off a firestorm of protests from some fans, who are accusing the group of becoming politically correct.
The band quietly quit using the flag at some point, but protestations didn't ensue until after they talked about it on CNN.
WHITFIELD: You all very much underscore tradition. You know, there are real main stays in your music, you know, in your look, in your sound. Something that was associated with your band for a very long time, the confederate flag whether it was on your album covers or the back drop, we don't see that anymore. At what point did you make a decision to lose that or what was the evolution of that?
ROSSINGTON: Well, it became such an issue, you know, about race and stuff where we just had it, in the beginning, because we were southern. And that was our image back in the 70s and late 60s because they kind of branded us from being from the south so we showed that. But I think through the years, you know, people like the KKK and Skinheads and people have kind of kidnapped the dixie rebel flag from the southern tradition and the heritage of the soldiers. That's what it was about. And they kind of made it look bad in certain ways. So we didn't want that to go to our fans or show the image like we agree with any of the race stuff or any of the bad things.
VAN ZANT: If nothing else we grew up loving old blues artists and Ray Charles, you know. So, you know, we just didn't want to be associated with that particular thing."
