Johnny Cash's family denounced white supremacists after one wore the singer's name
"Johnny Cash was a man whose heart beat with the rhythm of love and social justice."
"Johnny Cash was a man whose heart beat with the rhythm of love and social justice."
In 1964, right after the mainstream success of "Ring of Fire," Johnny Cash risked his career to release Bitter Tears, an album advocating for the rights of Native Americans. This wasn't something that country singers did in the mid-'60s. Backlash from the music industry at the time was swift. His record, and its single — "The Ballad of Ira Hayes" about the Pima Indian who helped raise the flag on Iwo Jima — was being boycotted by radio station managers.
But, Cash kept fighting. He saying: "D.J.s바카라 게임 웹사이트station managers바카라 게임 웹사이트owners, etc., where are your guts? 'Ira Hayes' is strong medicine. So is Rochester, Harlem, Birmingham and Vietnam." Cash won that battle. His song wasn't silenced by racists; instead it's become one of the most beloved American social anthems of all time, recorded and re-recorded by artists through the last five decades.
Last weekend, that racism reared its ugly head again as the "Unite the Right" rally caused chaos in Charlottesville, and the conflict resulted in the death of one counter-protester. Among the many horrifying images spread throughout the media, was video of a white supremacist wearing a Johnny Cash t-shirt. Someone notified the Cash family, who were sickened by the association, .
"He would be horrified at even a casual use of his name or image for an idea or a cause founded in persecution and hatred. The white supremacists and neo-Nazis who marched in Charlottesville are poison in our society, and an insult to every American hero who wore a uniform to fight the Nazis in WWII," Rosanne Cash wrote. "Several men in the extended Cash family were among those who served with honor. Our dad told each of us, over and over throughout our lives, 'Children, you can choose love or hate. I choose love.'"
"To any who claim supremacy over other human beings, to any who believe in racial or religious hierarchy: we are not you," Rosanne Cash wrote. "Our father, as a person, icon, or symbol, is not you. We ask that the Cash name be kept far away from destructive and hateful ideology."
Similarly, earlier this year, Richard Spencer's favorite band, Depeche Mode, .