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Daniels Won't Play 9/11 Song in Mich. Town

Posted on: Saturday, 7 August 2004, 06:00 CDT

DEARBORN, Mich. - Charlie Daniels will not perform a song criticized by Arab-Americans when he appears at a weekend festival in this Detroit-area community, the center of southeastern Michigan's 300,000-member Arab-American community.

Daniels wrote and recorded "This Ain't No Rag, It's a Flag" after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. It became a country hit, but critics said it refers to a slur against Arabs.

The song begins: "This ain't no rag, it's a flag and we don't wear it on our heads. It's a symbol of the land where the good guys live. Are you listening to what I said?"

"Ragheads" is a derogatory term for Arabs, Muslims and others who wear turbans or cover their heads.

The Charlie Daniels Band is to perform Saturday night at the city-sponsored Dearborn Homecoming. Expressions of concern from Arab-American groups prompted Dearborn officials to contact Daniels, who said he never intended to perform the song at the three-day community event, city spokeswoman Mary Laundroche said Friday.

Daniels told the Detroit Free Press in an interview Wednesday that the song isn't directed at Arabs and Muslims, but at turbaned terrorists such as Osama bin Laden.

"The only thing it's `anti' is the people who bombed us on 9/11. I have people who say you're putting down people who wear turbans. I'm not," Daniels, 67, told the newspaper. "There are good Arabs and bad Arabs, good Greeks and bad Greeks, good people and bad people in any race."

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee said in a statement that it "recognizes and truly appreciates Mr. Daniels' explanation of the song's intent."

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