This past summer's uproar over "Try That in a Small Town," a song by country music star Jason Aldean, is over—but with the school year underway, the controversy over the song remains an instructive example of the repercussions of America’s dangerously fractured education system.
“Try That in a Small Town” topped the charts despite echoing the ugliest bits of America’s violent racist past. The accompanying music video even took place at the site of an infamous 1927 lynching, and originally appeared to warn Black Lives Matter protesters not to “try that in a small town.” The singer insisted his song had nothing to do with race and expressed outrage over the ties critics have drawn between it and our sordid, racist past. But perhaps it is unsurprising that Aldean was so stunned by the backlash.
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