IT'S UNCOMFORTABLE WHEN RACISM & BIGOTRY GET UNCOVERED-- BUT IGNORING THE PROBLEMS IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR A CURE-- MELLENCAMP'S "JENA" HAS SOME NON-FANS

Last week DWT presented listeners with the first opportunity to hear John Mellencamp's powerful new song, "Jena." Now it's available on YouTube and people are starting to see it all over the world-- much to the despair of the white Jena power structure. Take a look:



The images are very strong and very disturbing-- and not exactly what southern conservatives and racists want the world to see. Jena Mayor Murphy R. McMillin called Mellencamp's video inflammatory, "so inflammatory, so defamatory, that a line has been crossed and enough is enough."

Enough was enough in 1865. It is no wonder that a society which has failed to take the Civil War to heart would be angry about Mellencamp's condemnation of racism and bigotry.


UPDATE: KKK MEMBERS WON'T BE BUYING ANY MELLENCAMP T-SHIRTS EITHER

The Chicago Tribune reported a couple weeks ago that the KKK and other white supremacist groups had come to Jena-- and that the mayor-- the one who thought Mellencamp's song was "over the line"-- didn't have any problem with that. Support from all the regular kooks and nuts, from David Duke to the guy with no teeth at the gas station, started flooding in.

First a neo-Nazi Web site posted the names, addresses and phone numbers of some of the six black teenagers and their families at the center of the Jena 6 case and urged followers to find them and "drag them out of the house," prompting an investigation by the FBI.

Then the leader of a white supremacist group in Mississippi published interviews that he conducted with the mayor of Jena and the white teenager who was attacked and beaten, allegedly by the six black youths. In those interviews, the mayor, Murphy McMillin, praised efforts by pro-white groups to organize counterdemonstrations; the teenager, Justin Barker, urged white readers to "realize what is going on, speak up and speak their mind."

Mellencamp's newest musical critic has been on the same note since then, insisting, rather incredulously, that portraying Jena as racist is unfair. When interviewed by a proudly racist group from Mississippi, Mayor McMillin said, " I am not endorsing any demonstrations, but I do appreciate what you are trying to do. Your moral support means a lot."

JOHN MELLANCAMP DOES AN INTENSE NEW SONG ABOUT ANOTHER SMALL TOWN IN AMERICA

You might be sick of hearing me urging John Mellencamp to run for governor of Indiana. But the schlemiel in there now just gets worse and worse... and John keeps getting better and better. John has been in the studio working on a new album, still untitled, with T Bone Burnett and it's due out soon... maybe in January (once he makes a new record deal with some company).

Lately he's been busy performing for wounded Iraq war vets-- like all Democrats and progressives he hates them-- and last month he performed his all-American classic, "Small Town," at the opening game of the NFL Season (between the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints), 3 nights before the annual Farm Aid benefit he does with Willie Nelson. Many of his most inspired songs are patriotic in the finest sense of the word, celebrating the inclusiveness and unity that brings people together, like his Woody Guthrie-like "This Is Our Country".

In August he recorded the song "Jena," as soon as he heard what was going on in that small town. He wanted to get it out even before the album was released. Here it is (click to watch the video):
"Jena," a powerful and healing song of redemption.

An all white jury hides the executioner’s face
Is this how we are, me and you?
Everyone needs to know their place
And here we thought this blackbird was hidden in the flue
 
Oh oh oh Jena
Oh oh oh Jena
Oh oh oh Jena
Take your nooses down
 
So what becomes of boys that cannot think straight
Particularly those with paper bag skin
Yes sir no sir wipe that smile off your face
We’ve got our rules here and you’ve got to fit in
 
Oh oh oh Jena
Oh oh oh Jena
Oh oh oh Jena
Take your nooses down
 
Hey some way sanity will prevail
But no one knows when that day will come
A shot in the dark, well it might find its way
To the hearts of those who hold the keys to kingdom come
 
Oh oh oh Jena
Oh oh oh Jena
Oh oh oh Jena
Take your nooses down
 
Oh oh oh Jena
Oh oh oh Jena
Oh oh oh Jena
Take your nooses down

It'll be up on YouTube soon.