Gretchen Wilson has expressed her frustration with the term 'redneck' being associated with racism.
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For decades, the label 'redneck' has been a derogatory one for southerners. In more recent years, self-proclaimed 'rednecks' have adopted the label as a point of pride. It has become a label that describes and celebrates the southern lifestyle. However, for many, it still carries negative connotations.
This is something that Gretchen Wilson is trying to put to rest.
When she sat down with Big D & Bubba recently, she went on a mini rant about the label, and how she gets frustrated that people associate 'rednecks' with racism.
"In the last 10, 20 years, everybody has decided that the word 'redneck' means something other than what it does," she started. "I guess because I'm the redneck woman it kind of falls on me to define this for everyone."
"Redneck does not mean racist."
"It does not mean some kind of white supremacist cult. Redneck has never meant that and I don't know who in the movie industry or in the whatever has decided, because that's where I hear it the most in a derogatory world, is in the movies," she continued.
Gretchen Wilson Defines The Term 'Redneck'
"Redneck means, it comes from being out in the farm, in the field, all day long, and coming back in with your neck sunburned because you've been out on a plow all day long," she explained. "That's basically what it comes from. And it has nothing to do with racism, and I'm really sick of it and I wish people would just do their homework on that."
The term 'redneck' has a very convoluted and interesting history. Through the decades, the term has been synonymous with class struggle and activism.
'Redneck' used to describe the poor in the early 20th century. Now, the word has become the label of choice for those who think people in the South are backwards in their views and thinking. Hence, the association with racism.
I mean, historically, the poor have been viewed as stupid on account of education being expensive. So the label hasn't changed all that much over the years.
Although what Wilson's saying is technically true, people aren't using 'Redneck' because they haven't done their homework. 'Redneck' is a term with roots drenched in prejudice.
The problem isn't with how people define 'redneck,' it's in how people perceive those the label is cast upon.
