Don't over react-they're trying to make a point.

Calling The Greatest Man that Ever Lived racist is perhaps the funniest thing that I have read all day, because

1. You are equating making fun of a style of music to making fun of a race, when music transcends race (ex.: Eminem is white, and considered to be one of the best rappers ever). When people make fun of country music, is it racist against white people? How about making fun of the foibles of a Mariachi band? Are you racist against Hispanics? Absolutely not. Every form of music has cliches that can be mocked, and it has nothing to do with race.

2. Cuomo continues the "bravado" through 5 or 6 other types of music throughout the song, not just the rap section. The WHOLE song is a joke, not that section.

No offense, but if this is what passes for racism today, I think we've lost sight of the meaning of the word....

I don't think that word means what you think it means.

"Joe Strummer may have meant the line “Black people got problems, but they don’t mind throwin’ a brick” as a compliment. He may have spent too much time around punks."

Of course Strummer meant it as a compliment. He was commenting on the apathy of white youth in the UK. I've always thought the song was pretty straight-forward about that.

Agree on Minor Threat, though. The lyrics imply that discrimination against black people is a thing of the past, criticizes affirmative action and was simply a wrong move.
Sure, Mackaye's personal frustration with being abused by his peers because of his race and being expected by some to feel guilty because of the actions of others of his race is understandable. But his comments on the song (especially early ones) betray his real intentions and thoughts writing the song.

Just want to sign my comment, accidentally posted it as anonymous.

Luce

After the havoc that I'm gonna reap
No more words will critics have to speak

Umm, some "interesting" Strummer/Clash lyrics from the days before "Rock Against Racism" when it wasn't completely clear wear early UK punks stood politcally, even The Clash.

From 'Hate & War':

Hate and war - I hate all the english
Hate and war - theyre just as bad as wops
Hate and war - I hate all the politeness
Hate and war - I hate all the cops

I wanna walk down any street
Looking like a creep
I dont care if I get beat up
By any kebab greek

From what I understand, Strummer was about as far from being a racist as any white guy could be, but people forget today that early UK punk toyed casually with Nazi/racist imagery.

And like any sophisticated songwriter, he is not necessarily singing in the voice of the lyrial, first-person "I"--ie, he's assuming another's voice.

Also, the somewhat more ambiguous "Safe European Home":

"I went to the place where every white face is an invitation to robbery
An’ sitting here in my safe European home
Don’t wanna go back there again"

she owns

Safe European Home was written about when the Clash went to Jamaica to record with Lee Perry and were almost killed/robbed in the studio and were tricked out of possessions and almost mugged on the streets. however, the "safe european home" part is ironic, as their neighborhood in london was no safer. the song ends with a "rudy can't fail" chant and ska chords. the song is really a sort of "hey, remember the crazy time we had in Jamaica" song rather than "boy is England more safe than the West Indies." they're actually parodying their own whiteness.

as for the other allegations, the Clash's continual reggae/funk/rap experiments and collaborations with black artists is enough to disprove this racism stuff. (the real skinheads were the Sex Pistols, who wore swastikas and had songs about death camps, albeit only for shock value.) they wrote "White Riot" based on an incident where Joe and Paul Simonon joined in on the Notting Hill Carnival race riot with a group of Caribbean immigrants, and afterwords wondered why the working white poor of England did not protest their own problems. It was a song about not wanting to "borrow" a riot––if anything, it was a compliment towards the Caribbean immigrants. however, they realized the song was taken out of context and deliberately headlined the Rock Against Racism shows to prove it.

check out the excellent documentary film "Westway to the World" for more on this (which, btw, was directed by Don Letts, a friend of the band and a British resident of west indian origin)

whoa, i wrote a lot more than i thought...

"(ex.: Eminem is white, and considered to be one of the best rappers ever)."

wtf?

and ian mckay was like 17 when he wrote that song.

listen, we all love ian mackaye... and goddamn if it isn't a catchy song. but it's still kinda racist.

Prof. Scott Plous uses the word "niggle" and "nigglers" in class sometimes. I thought racism makes people who drink soy milk break out in hives? Huh, guess I was wrong.

presumably the lyrics in 'hate and war' are not meant to be taken at face value. and i'm pretty sure ian mackaye has more or less disavowed 'guilty of being white'

"Woman is the Nigger of the World, Think About It"

John Lennon and Yoko Ono

FUCK THEM BOTH

yeah I said it.

Those songs are not racist. Stop being stupid.

And the Anonymous, April 28th, 2009
12:11 pm is really stupid. Go kill yourself.

web 2.0 at its finest. or was this meant to be satire? at least Ben Firke knows what he's talking about.

yeah racisim isn't alright

I DIGG ALL THESE SONGS, I DON'T GIVE A FLYING FUCK IF THERE A BIT RACTIST TO YOU

OHH AND I AGREE WITH ADAM ABOUT THE Anonymous, April 28th, 2009 12:11 pm
STUPID TURD!

WOOPS SHIT I MADE MYSELF LOOK STUPID, I MISSPELLED RACIST

You've showed your true side, in trying to make a point. Once again,racism goes both ways,and you my friend are no better than the "artists" you've listed. "White People know they are uncool". It just shows your fucking ignorance. The shit will never die until real black men try and educate their children to NOT stereotype and hate. "Black people are dumb and they know this"---This is a false statement,but do you see how ignorant it is. Quit posting shit like this,because you've wasted time that you could have used to do positive things,as opposed to focusing on the negative.

If you live in the past,there is no future.