As I was preparing my article, Religious Right: Racism Not Abortion, I did a Google image search for “Now Accepting Negroes!” I didn’t find anything I could use based upon that, so I just put the phrase across the “Bob Jones University” sign. But it did bring me to the image on the left. Well, to be accurate, I cropped the image. Now, I’m the first to admit, I’m not very observant. I didn’t notice the rainbow bars and I misread it as saying, “Black Flag.” I can be forgiven, I think: it uses the same font.
I was so excited. I’ve always thought of Obama as kind of an uninteresting guy. Sure: smart and capable and cool in that laid-back way—but not the kind of guy who would be into Black Flag. So I thought, “I’ve got to find out if this is just a photoshop job.” Because it would be totally awesome. Black Flag was one of the great bands. I’m a huge fan. Obama’s coolness factor would go through the roof as far as I was concerned.
So I clicked over to the site, which is kind of like accidentally clicking onto a scat porn site. I should have known better, the page is titled, “Most Negroes Don’t Accept Homos!” But I was too excited. And that’s when I saw that the shirt actually said “Black FAG” and not “Black FLAG.” The article is kind of serious in its way, it has what looks like a quote from a serious journal that shows that there is more homophobia in the black community, although there are reasons to question this conclusion.
But the article itself is written in a very tired style of the right wing nutjob. It starts:
Charming.
But it did give me a thrill for a moment. So I’m grateful to the hateful bigot for that. But this one goes out to our president who may not be fully as cool as he could be, but he is probably as cool as America could handle:
It still sometimes, but should not, amazes me how artlessly hateful some of these people are.
The shirt is (inadvertently) cool, but like you, I did not see Obama as a Black Flag fan.
Interesting that I’ve heard about some of the right-winger being into old-school American punk – opposite century continues. There is some interesting sociological work to be done here, related to tendencies you discuss often. Most especially, the claim to be all about freedom and being one’s own boss, and the reality of supporting authoritarianism.
Occasionally, my iTunes goes to Black Flag, but I never get around to hearing Henry; it’s always the pre-Henry singles I play. Obviously my favorite is the first single, ‘Nervous Breakdown’. Also high on ‘I’ve heard it before’.
And the Dead Kennedys have zero plays since I set up iTunes – and I’ve got every CD of theirs. Even Crass has more plays.
And Richard Hell and Patti Smith each have more plays than all hardcore bands combined! I’ve changed. Still love Black Flag sometimes, though.
@RJ – I was hoping someone would comment. My love of Black Flag is mostly Greg Ginn, who I think revolutionized rock guitar playing. Henry Rollins is great too, but what I like more is his politics and I like what he’s had to say about their audiences, who were mostly not very cool–a bunch of thugs really. I am far more into The Minutemen who were undoubtedly the best punk band ever.
I prefer Television to Richard Hell, even though he wrote a couple of classics and the band is damned good including Hell’s bass. Patti Smith was great. And speaking of Crow, The Jim Carroll Band was great, even though he was a really weak singer.
I love The Dead Kennedys in general, but I hate the way Jello Biafra sings. But sometimes it works just perfectly:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIqESwzCGg4[/youtube]