Prosecutor's Use of "Dixie" Song Spurs Appeal

[IDemo]

Source: ABC News

Defense attorneys have filed an appeal claiming a man convicted of lewd conduct in Idaho should get a new trial because they say a prosecutor introduced racism into the case by quoting lyrics from the song "Dixie" in her closing argument.

The song, originally penned in 1859 for a minstrel show and later popularized as the Confederate anthem during the Civil War, longingly recalls the antebellum South.

Defense attorneys for James D. Kirk said the use of the song during the trial of the black man accused of assaulting white teenagers turned the trial into a racial matter, whether or not that was the intention of the prosecutor.

The defense lawyers made the arguments last week during a hearing before the Idaho Court of Appeals, the Idaho Statesman (http://bit.ly/1tRNnDy) reported Friday.



Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/prosecutors-confederate-song-spurs-appeal-27397799

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[okaawhatever]

1. AYFKM? nt

[Dont call me Shirley]

2. The racists are really creeping out of the woodwork now, like cockroaches.

[Journeyman]

3. "Dixie" is a Northern song, fairly claimed by Abraham Lincoln as the Union's lawful prize. . .

On 10 April 1865, one day after the surrender of General Robert E. Lee, Lincoln addressed a White House crowd:

I propose now closing up by requesting you play a certain piece of music or a tune. I thought "Dixie" one of the best tunes I ever heard ... I had heard that our adversaries over the way had attempted to appropriate it. I insisted yesterday that we had fairly captured it ... I presented the question to the Attorney-General, and he gave his opinion that it is our lawful prize ... I ask the Band to give us a good turn upon it.

http://democraticthinker.wordpress.com/2010/03/19/abraham-lincoln-i-wish-i-was-in-dixie/

[LuvNewcastle]

4. Either the prosecutor is lying about her intentions behind quoting

that song or she is so fucking stupid that she has no idea what she did there. Either way, she has no business holding that office. Is the University of Phoenix handing out law degrees now?

[Scairp]

5. That's just dumb

I think he should get a new trial because the prosecutor is a moron.

[Hoppy]

7. (I don't want to embarass you but you spelled "moran" wrong.)

[Jack Rabbit]

6. An interesting fact . . .

Daniel Decatur Emmett (1815-1904), a native of Ohio and the author of the song Dixie, was a minstrel show performer. He and other members of his troupe were said to have been the first minstrel show cast members to perform in black face. According to Alan Lomax, the well regarded historian of American folk music, Emmett remained loyal to the Union during the civil war and opposed slavery.

Emmett is also the author of the songThe Blue-Tail Fly, also known as Jimmy Crack Corn, associated by people my age or older (there aren't many left) with the late Burl Ives. The lyrics tell the story of slave celebrating the sudden death of his cruel master in a horse riding accident.
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