re: Neil Young's 1970 hit single "Southern Man"

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and they were just as racist during the time between Reconstruction and the 1960s civil rights movement.

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It's fair to say that the north was incredibly racist as well (with Chicago perhaps being the worst of all), but it is not fair to say it was "just as racist". Let's not act like the south wasn't ground zero for most of the horror show.

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I don't think that was the point of the rebuke.

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The point of the rebuke was Skynyrd didn't think Young had actually ever been to Alabama and met the people from Alabama. They had been to Muscle Shoals to record their album and sat beside Aretha Franklin and many other black artists and actually saw them treated with respect and dignity by white people. This was a contrast to the message of Southern Man, and the images of Alabama being displayed on the evening news. It was more of a challenge to Young to come down and experience the Alabama they experienced.