I'm not ashamed to admit being a Kentucky Fried Chicken fan.
Sure, a black man harboring a penchant for Colonel Sanders' secret recipe is as stereotypical as Italian guys who dig gold chains and V-neck shirts. But fried chicken is a soul food staple, and like many black folks, I grew up close enough to a KFC that we could smell its seductive aroma of 13 herbs and spices from our front yard.
As a result, many of us became as fond of KFC as Jewish kids did of the neighborhood kosher deli.
So, you can imagine the disappointment I felt watching a KFC commercial recently. The 30-second spot was the same one that had been airing for more than a year, but this time I finally noticed the background music.
Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama" was clucking noisily in the background. Suddenly, I felt like the colonel had more white clothes in his wardrobe than just that two-piece gingham suit.
The song is beloved by classic rock fans the nation over. But for the record, "Sweet Home Alabama" is a bold-faced endorsement of racism, segregation and slavery.
The song was written in response to rocker Neil Young's "Southern Man," an angry indictment of slavery from 1972. "Southern Man's" most provocative passage: "Lilly Belle your hair is golden brown/I've seen your black man, comin' 'round/swear by God I'm gonna cut him down/I heard screaming and bullwhips crackin/how long, how long?"
In response, Lynyrd Skynyrd vocalist Ronnie Van Zandt wrote the following lyric: "I hope Neil Young will remember/A Southern man don't need him around anyhow."
"Sweet Home Alabama" also endorsed "love" for Alabama's segregationist Gov. George Wallace, which makes it a wonder why any corporation would choose such a song for a product endorsement -- especially a product popular with blacks.
Kentucky Fried Chicken spokesman Rick Maynard said the instrumental version of "Sweet Home" was chosen, "because it's clearly Southern-inspired. Just as KFC has its roots in Southern hospitality, the song does, too."
Maynard declined to discuss how some might perceive the lyrics as racist, though he said he has heard of no black KFC customers complaining.
Hopefully, KFC one day will use a more benign jingle, like a hotted-up version of "My Old Kentucky Home." Hopefully, one day they will. Because right now, I'm having a hard time concentrating on extra-crispy or original recipe because I'm hearing the sound of bull-whips cracking.
