Discrimination has always been a part of the interracial relations in the U.S. Those people, who claim that racism was left behind in the past and should be studied by historians, are too ignorant not to notice it nowadays. However, I cannot agree with the position that Mr. Asante has taken while writing his opinion on the “Accidental Racist” song. I strongly believe, that he failed to grab a simple message that artists were trying to send, which is not to make false assumptions about people based solely on their appearance and start a dialogue to leave all the prejudices behind.
The article is focused on reminding a reader about a long standing problem. Racism is an inalienable part of our history; it still exists and flourishes in our country. However to my beliefs, racism is not within “The Confederate flags that rustle above”, as Mr. Asante is trying to imply, it is within the hearts and minds of prejudiced Americans, no matter what flag is on their T-shirts. The author is mistakenly criticizing only some parts of the song, especially the title, ignoring the context. Brad Paisley and Ll Cool J, singers, were trying to raise an important issue that the time has come for Americans to let old hatred go and take a look at one another as equals, disregarding the race, skin color and attributes of the hatred era. By doing so, in no way shall Americans disrespect or forget their past, but they will ensure bright and equal future for each other.
All things considered, Mr. Asante in his article manages to bring close attention to the problem of racial inequality in the United States, however in my opinion, he somewhat fails to understand the message of the artists’, whose song he reviewed.
Works Cited
M.K. Asante. "Racism Is Part of Our Country’s Past and Present History, and We Should Never “Forget” It" The New York Times. 9 April 2014. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.
Simple, Compound, Complex, Complex-compound
