I have fond memories of the Dukes of Hazzard. I was shown that a car could fly, an Uncle could be a guardian to three cousins, the law really didn’t matter, nothing couldn’t be solved without an old fashioned moonshine race, and bedtime was extended to 9pm on Fridays so we could watch it all. I didn’t turn out so bad with the tutelage of the Dukes in my upbringing. If anything it taught me that Daisy Duke never had a wedgie no matter how short those shorts got. Then the reunion movie ruined that last part for me. Where are the Dukes now? Not in Cincinnati.
The Dukes of Hazzard are getting driven out of town over the Confederate imagery in their good ol’ TV show.
The stars of the series, John Schneider and Tom Wopat, have segued into musical careers since the show ended production in 1985. Schneider says the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra canceled a planned “Dukes”-themed appearance after contracts were signed because some in the community found the show racist and offensive.
The part that distresses me about this isn’t the cancelled shows. This is not the first time a performance has been canceled because the local public has spoken out against an artist or show.
The part that boggles my mind about this is that they accuse the show of representing racist and Confederate imagery. Didn’t the show have these qualities in the 80s? You can’t tell me these issues didn’t exist in the 80s.
Worse, they hold the credibility of these qualities AGAINST a show where if you are being pursued by police, you can simply out run the police and you don’t get a ticket. Like they don’t know where you live and issue a warrant for your arrest. Must be really hard to track down a bright orange Charger with racing numbers and a Confederate Flag on it.
In a show based on light hearted suspension of disbelief, they expect us to be serious and consider the “good old boys” to be racists and Confederates.
Welcome to 1865 people.
If there was any part of those behaviours represented in the show, I would suggest that you have a point. But the SHOW didn’t give any value to ANY of those behaviours.
You have Godwin’d yourself out of any hope of debating this, but let me go there anyways. There was a show that had nazis in it called Hogan’s Heroes. It had Nazi’s running a war camp. It too was light hearted and comedic. And yes, the main characters were Nazi’s and war prisoners. Gasp!
Jay, no one is condoning slavery. The car is called the General Lee, and has a flag on it. Short of that imagery on a CAR, there are NONE of the other behaviours that you find so offensive. You are stretching beyond reason to associate this show with the negative policies of a civil war. This show was NOTHING about that.
The point is that despite being “confederates” or living in the deep south these were good people helping other people. There was always a lesson to be learned, and no one ever died.
If the Dukes had themselves a black slave and slapped him around, then yes, you might have a point. But you don’t.
The show is being condemned on the imagery placed on a car. If there was a swastika on the car and the rest of the show had the same morals and messages, I would still hold true to this argument.
People are trying to put something in the show that was never there. People had 7 seasons of the Dukes of Hazzard to complain about it, and nothing ever came of it then. Why is this now such an issue?
The Confedeate flag represents a rival government which initiated an unprovoked war agaisnt the US (see Fort Sumter) and did it for one reason and one reason alone: their ideology of white supremacy. Slaves were wealth and reassured white Southerners of their notions of superiority and they would be damned if anyone would make them give that up. What’s “light-hearted” about that? Canada’s educational system may not teach about the American Civil War, but I know you’ve seen enough movies and TV shows about it (Glory, Roots, North & South, Gettyburg) to know what the Confederate flag is and what it means. You may not like that others object to it, but you certainly know why.
The people of Cincinatti, (which is a majority-black city I might add) have a helthy sense of history and decency. You don’t have to be black or an American to understand why certain aspects of that show are fundamentally offensive.
During slavery people were shackled, raped, beated, dismembered (hacking off of ears, noses and feet were very common for mere “disobedience” as well as trying to escape) families ripped apart, degraded, and killed, all of this without anyone ever being held accountable. The Confederate flag represents the culmination of all that. Not merely a symbol of twisted behavior, but a symbol of the bold DEFENSE of that degenerate behavior. To wit: We’re evil and proud of it!
I’m still trying to figure out what’s “light-hearted” about all that.
It should not be hard at all for anyone to understand why slavery was a holocaust and why so many think it and it’s trappings, shouldn’t be seen any other way.
If I made a show about a couple of dim-witted backwoods kids in rural Germany who flew the Nazi flag and named their car after General Rommel I’m pretty sure nobody would be questioning why it’s offensive. But for some reason when we talk about slavery in America…there’s always some perfectly good explanation for why it’s okay.
Oh, and for the record, there were plenty of people who spoek against the Dukes of Hazzard when it was on TV, problem was very few cities were majority black in the early 80’s and those who objected weren’t organized. Today there are far more black cities, and the black residents are much better organized and media savvy.
In the 21st century are some people so lacking in basic empathy that they can’t understand why a symbol of mass-slaughter and degradation is wrong? Rather than deride it, they defend it. So I guess slavery is “light-hearted” now? Hell, why not go all the way and celebrate it then?
I have the series on DVD and Don Pedro Colley played Sheriff Edward Thomas “Big Ed” Little the chief law enforcement officer for neighboring Chickasaw County. Wikipedia lists him as one of 11 re-occurring roles.
http://www.donpedrocolley.com
And he is really black. Honest.
Yeah the show about rednecks in the deep south had a black character in it and he was a lawman. Go figure.
Maybe you need to go watch it again.
I watched the show quite a bit as a youngster. And there were no black characters on the show, not even in bit parts, and CERTAINLY no recurring characters.
You’re obviously thinking about the movie and not the show. Go see the series on DVD, so you won’t get the two confused.
Clearly you have never watched this show.
One of the main reoccuring characters was the Atlanta Police officer who would sit at the Hazzard County line. The Duke Boys were under probation and couldnt leave the county. If they dared cross over, a BLACK COP was waiting for them. EVERY TIME.
There were PLENTY of black characters that came and went throughout the series as minor characters as well.
“They expect us to be serious and consider the “good old boys” to be racists and Confederates.”
They have a Confederate flag on their car, they named it the General Lee, and THERE WAS NEVER EVEN ONE BLACK PERSON ON THE SHOW during it’s entire run.
Gee, can’t see why anyone think ill of the show.
BTW I live in the deep South (Louisiana) and racism is VERY much alive and well here. Atlanta (with a 70-perecnt black population) may be “way above racism” but it’s hard to be racist in a city where seven out of ten people is black. But Atlanta’s the exception, not the rule. It’s sad, but the stereotype about the South being a hotbed of un-Reconstructed Confederates is true.
This shows how we are so “Politically Correct”. This is bs. I never watched the Dukes and thought “oh they are racist”. You want this off, yet if a show comes on about how “savage” Native Americans are, thats ok. If you ask me, this world has gone overboard with this crap! AND by the way, unless you visit the “American South”, DO NOT assume you know it. I live there. And I can tell you that Atlanta, and other areas are way above racism.
@Godfather
Thank you for the correction.
Yes, the team is called the Reds. They were actually the first professional baseball team. Back then they were called the Red Stockings because of the red socks they wore. Over time, it got shortened to just being the Reds. It has absolutly NOTHING to do with Native Americans or any other group of people. Please try again.
Rick…
The thread was written by Rodney, not John.
I haven’t been to the American South, and really, there’s nothing that draws me to it. One thing I do know about it, though, is just as Rick stated: there’s still a lot of racism down there.
One thing about the people of Cincinati, the must not realize that their baseball team is called the Reds, which is derogatory to Native peoples. Having said that, I’m unsure how a supposed PC friendly area could pass judgment on the Dukes, but not the sports franchise it supports. Wait… doesn’t “PC” mean you turn a blind eye to things you like, but go nuts over a TV show you don’t?
Yes, the show was fluffy fun. I grew up watching it myself. I can see where a show being put on by a publicly funded organization using the confederate flag as stage dressing could be an issue in a city that had minor race riots a five years ago could be an issue.
There are still a lot of people in this city that think there are severe race relation issues in this city, especialy in regards to the police.
I agree with Rick — it seems the Cincinati Pops is making their decision based on the obvious imagery rather than the context of the show.
I wonder if they ever actually watched an episode of the Dukes. As far as I can recall, watching as a child, there was never an episode where anyone of a different race was disparaged upon by the ‘good guys’– the whole point of the show was that the Duke family had good hearts and went out of their way to help others who stumbled into Hazzard county, regardless of who they were, their skin color, etc.
I guess we can blame modern technology for this one. You see information travels really fast now. You can get a whole bunch of people to agree and get behind you with just a simple email campaign. No longer are you stuck reading a newspaper column about how one person feels about something
You can write an email describing the history/signifigance of the confederate flag with pictures and link your article with other bloggers
Also, I hate to bring this up cause I’m sick and tired of hearing this stupid ass catchphrase
“It’s very non PC to have a confederate flag on a rednecks car”
One day Julia Child will be remembered as a woman who advocated the murder of poultry. People will hold candlelight vigils for the victims of Ted Nugent’s latest bowhunting trip. As we all sail quietly into the twilight of our species…
John, you bring up some good points. Like you, I was watching Dukes of Hazzard when I was growing up in Canada; although it wasn’t until a few years later when I learned what the significance of the confederate flag really meant. When you and I were in Canada, Dukes of Hazzard was just a show, like you mentioned a light hearted show. But John, I’ve been living in the US for a few years now, and racism is still alive and well. I remember in North Carolina, seeing quite a few “whites only” signs (this was back in 1991-92). When I went to school in Georgia, me and a few buddies took a weekend trip into the “deep south”, and holy crap, I could not believe what I was seeing. There folks wearing the Ku-Klux-Klan robes in broad daylight! I was absolutely floored! These people were wearing the KKK outfits like they were wearing their Sunday best. Being a kid from Canada, this was kind of a shock to the system. I was younger back then, I thought people would be more enlightened that racism was a thing of the past…boy was I wrong!
Yes, it seems kind of silly to run Dukes of Hazzard out of town; however, if that car didn’t have the Confederate flag, we wouldn’t be discussing this issue. For some people, the Confederate flag represents racism, for others it represented a pride of heritage. For the American viewers out there that watched Dukes of Hazzard when they were young, I would be curious to know if they remember if there was a controversy around the Confederate flag.
John, I don’t know about you, but when I watching Dukes of Hazzard in Canada, I don’t ever recall a controversy around the Confederate flag on the car. Yes, the issue in Cincinnati seems kind of silly, but I can see why.