Jason Aldean facing new racism accusations tied to ‘pro-lynching’ song

nypost.com:

TikTok teaser for the song is drawing outrage. TikToker Danny Collins, a former minor league pitcher for the Atlanta Braves, took a closer look on Saturday at the newspaper article featured in the background of Aldean’s promotional clip for the song, which has sparked accusations it’s “pro-lynching” and “racist.”According to Collins, the text in the “Small Town” TikTok, which was posted May 19 (the same day the song came out), appears to have originated from a now-defunct newspaper from Petal, Mississippi, called the Petal Paper.Collins claims to have found an archived copy of the 1956 article online.

He stated that the text was a letter to the publication’s publisher, P.D. East, from an NAACP public relations consultant.The consultant commended East for using his platform to ridicule white supremacists and criticize the Jim Crow-era policy of segregation in schools.“Never have I seen anything that startled me as much as the March 15 issue of the Petal Paper with its incredible ridiculing of the White Citizens Council crowd.

I’m referring specifically to the full-page ad I assume you wrote headed, ‘You Too, Can Be Superior,’” Collins read from the letter.“I hope I am not congratulating a dead man.

This must have taken courage and I hope you are still with us.”Collins then reads bits from East’s response letter, in which the publisher claimed he was called an “N-lover” and “bothered and harassed” by citizens of the town.East also reported that the paper lost more than 200 subscribers.