This morning on WBOK radio, local businessman and star actor Wendell Pierce announced that the Gayle Benson, owner of the Saints and Pelicans, will make a major announcement.  Will they change the name of Dixie Beer?

The offensive and racist name was plastered all over the Superdome and Arena.  A new launch and rebranding will help the company grow in our new more conscious society.

Gayle Benson and Saints should drop the name!

Hopefully NO MORE DIXIE BEER!!

Read my article from 3 years ago about this very issue!

By Jeff Thomas

Dixie beer?  Let me see.  Maybe I’m tripping.  What exactly is Dixie?  Let’s see hummm,  according to Dictionary.com, Dixie is the Southern U.S. states, especially those that belonged to the Confederate States of America (1860–65).  And Dixie was originally the battle song of the Confederate Army.  The song is the Confederate “national anthem”.  So in other words, had the South won, instead of singing “O say can you see” at the beginning of the  Saints football games on Sunday, you would take off your hat, place your hand on your heart and sing, “Oh, I wish I was in the land of cotton, Old times there are not forgotten.”  Are you ready for some football?

Gayle and Tom Benson

Cause New Orleans Saints owner and recipient of a myriad of Louisiana state tax breaks and stadium rent concessions and discounts, Tom Benson, has revived the brand celebrated by traitors and slave owners and raised the NFL to new heights of bigotry and amazing tone deafness.  The new Dixie sign in the Superdome is equivalent to flying a Confederate flag in the dome.  That the same league made the Slap Your Momma spice company change their entire corporate slogan, during a recent SuperBowl even after the company paid over $100,000 for advertising rights, is allowing a brand that represents racism and slavery and bigotry free reign at NFL games is telling.

But come on.  This is the new South.  And the commercials say that Dixie beer “brought people together.”  Now around 1907, it is well known that families would come together and gather round a strong tree to watch the latest lynching of an innocent black man.  And what better to cool you off on a hot Louisiana day than a good cold beer.  And an enterprising young man saw the market and started the Dixie brewing company.  Aww, nothing like a lynching and a cold Dixie beer.

The original labels of the beer had a picture of the Confederate flag.  Remarkably, in a city that inspired the nation to remove Confederate monuments, that the richest man in the state is so removed from the consciousness of the people that he feels ok to raise a Confederate flag in the Dome is inconceivable.

That the NFL allows this ignoble homage to the Confederacy to be a part of the NFL brand is indicative of a trend.  The blackballing of Colin Kaperneak might be explained away by his current skill level not being worth the distractions his signing might cause, but a blatantly racist symbol like DIXIE hanging in a NFL stadium is truly an indication of the standardization of bigotry and racism at the highest levels of the NFL.  What’s next – a team with blackface mascots nicknamed the Night Chasers?

The recent protests of the NFL headquarters in New York was centered primarily around the  Colin Kaepernick controversy.  And while the lack of African American head coaches, GMs and quarterbacks is reason enough to protest, the NFL’s nod to slavery and the Confederacy is cause to boycott the NFL.

As a big sports fan and American, I look forward to NFL Sunday as much as the next guy.  But if the NFL chooses to support slavery, racism and white supremacy, then I will have to support the Blackout of the NFL.  I’m going to watch some games.  But I will not purchase any products that are advertised during these games.

17 thoughts on “The NFL and the Confederacy”
  1. Post Katrina the “Saints”,named for this great city,has isolated the culture of NOLA more and more.Replacing the “Brass Bands” with copycat bands(senior citizens,whites)blowing the popular songs of “Hot 8, Soul Rebels,just to name a few. The outrageous hike on beer prices,actually eliminating any chance for the beer man yelling,”Get your cold beer here”,with his bucket around his neck an opportunity to get that tip,it is included in the jacked up prices of the beer.Now the guy has to peddle “Dixie”,Wow.What would happen if we stayed home,stop shopping at the gift shop,stop advertising in our churches,on our jobs, and supporting the homeless with leftover saints shirts, for free advertising. Who Dat says we are Not dat!

  2. Jeffery had a dream of becoming a journalist, sadly he never developed the skills necessary to achieve that dream, but instead of moving into another field where he could put his limited attributes to use he decided that becoming a third rate hack was better than no hack at all. Lacking the skills necessary to achieve his dream he resorts to inflammatory dishonest race baiting better suited to supermarket tabloids.

  3. You don’t matter! The Jal are bitching over beer and anything having to do with South and calling it racism is ludicrous. You people need to get lives that do matter and leave us the hell alone!

  4. A Dixie beer is as common place as a Kleenex. Kleenex has the advantage though because it has nothing to do with the south……maybe. Given a bit of time and some warped reasoning, I’m sure some “progressive” thinker out there will find a connection.

    My family never owned slaves. You never picked cotton. I’ve never been a big fan of the Confederate flag either, but right about now, I feel like flying 20 of them……in Indiana.

    I often wonder, just who these people think they are, just how special they feel they are, where they can deny a man, a region, a way of life, the right to remember their ancestors.

    Now, let’s all just go home and keep our noses out of everybody else’s business.

    1. We must never forget Slavery, Just like they will never forget 9/11.

      No more Dixie Beer in New Orleans!
      “Dixie” is the nickname for states south of the Mason-Dixon Line that seceded from the Union in 1861 over slavery.”

  5. It’s a southern beer and people love it. You are pathetic, wanting everything you disagree with considered racist. You are creating racism where there was none. Congrats to you and the last president for that.

    1. Where are the leaders who boldly and successfully got the statues of racism removed from the city of N.O. . There voices are silent . It also amazing how Mr. Benson shows his appreciation for the citizenry of this city by stirring up symbols of racism long dead and buried. Let’s not forget Mr. Benson’s millions were made through the black as well as white citizens of New Orleans during his initial business dealings.

  6. […] the Vikings this evening.  NFL opening weekend is a momentous occasion for many in this country.  Even though I am boycotting the NFL and especially the Saints and their Confederate beer, I watched the great Leonard Fournette rush for 100 yards in his NFL debut yesterday.  But you have […]

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  9. Why are white people so quick to support Dixie and attack the people who stand up against this racism? Cause they are racist idiots who would suffer if not for the advanatages of racism and oppression!

  10. Most white people are bigots by nature!! They love the advantages they get from racism and love to deny it exists in their sorry lives!

  11. We need to wake up and recognize that rich white people don’t care about how things affect black people. We should never drink this beer that is an homage to racism and slavery! F*#K Benson and the NFL for supporting this

  12. Boy oh boy lots of things trip me out about subjects like this. They are not now nor were they decades ago a new story. Racism and hate have always been here and it seems we will deal with them for decades more. But what’s really bad is we are going through this by choice. We all know (at least the even slightly intelligent part of us) that it’s wrong it’s sinful it’s totally unacceptable but we keep going down that road shaking our heads saying “when is it goin to stop”? Well the fact of the matter it’ll stop when it we all of us are ready for it to stop. And day and time will come when it affects us all directly in a very negative way. With that said let me see if I can make my point. You know I’m not nearly as concerned about a donald trump, a david duke, a rebel flag or even the animals that killed George Floyd. At least only to a certain extent. At least I know where they stand and I know I need to have a plan to deal with them. But the individuals that concern me the most or those that can comfortably say “I not a racist, I’m not prejudice, I believe in equality and fairness for all.” The ones that really mean it and most that know them will without hesitation say “they are straight up and absolutely good people.” But my problem with a lot if not most of them is that while they are able to recognize and acknowledge the wrong doings they are not willing to do anything to affect a change. It’s pretty easy to look a say “wow how bad, I’m totally against that” and then turn away and go on with their lives doing business usual. You see, things are not at or even near the top of our list of “need to dos” if the things in question don’t affect us directly. And I mean DIRECTLY. Not as as a bystander witnessing an event but rather as a participant in the event and particularly as one of the participants that is by design on the short end of the stick. That’s the directly that too many of us need in order to cause us to really take action meaningful action. The fact of the matter is if you could have an intelligent conversation with these individuals and you were able to come up with some thing, some symbol or some action that the other group found to be offensive, threatening, insulting or injurious to them then watch how fast a change will take place. The problem will be fixed quickly, the threat will be neutralize with great speed. All of that is much easier to do, especially when that group makes the rules, enforces the rules (at will), relaxes them or changes them as they see fit. If we are looking for real change everyone needs to have first hand knowledge of what it feels like to be on the short end of the stick. We need to know that if one of us is hurt by our practices, buy our actions, by our allowances then we all should be concerned enough to take action to make sure our decisions are in the best interest of all. We’ll take care of the things that are important to us. That’s true for all of. We take care of the things that are important to us. Unfortunately when it comes to those distasteful things in life, if the don’t affect us directly while they may be important they are not important enough because they don’t affect us directly. It’s easy to ask they other group to be patient, give it time or to remind them “things have improved, certainly not as bad as it use to be.” What level of bad is acceptable, when is the right time to do the right thing? Most of all how does one group (always the same group) get to decide the answers to all of these questions?

    Gotta get off my soap box now. So many thoughts and so little time to try to get it all out.
    Just heard Gayle Benson is changing the name with no announced name or time table. Applause to her.

  13. Good exposure about Benson’s decision to re-popularize the name ‘Dixie’ by restoring the Dixie Brewery Company. But the shameful history goes much further. Benson, a longtime conciliator to white supremacy once owned car dealerships in New Orleans & Jefferson Parish. White workers including mechanics resented Black mechanics working in the same space. Black workers would occasionally be greeted with hangman nooses when coming to work. Black workers fought back in the form of civil suits. Settlement would be reached but the details were sealed. The sealed decision would protect the details of the dirty deeds done to Black workers as well as the ‘liberal’ reputation of one of Louisiana’s famous billionaires who made a living stealing the wealth created by the working people, but especially the Black working people. (written by Leon A. Waters, manager of Hidden History Tours)

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