Dixie Chicks Facing Calls For A Name Change

    BEVERLY HILLS, CA - FEBRUARY 27:  (L-R) Musicians Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines and Emily Robison of the Dixie Chicks arrive at the David Lynch Foundation Gala Honoring Rick Rubin at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel on February 27, 2014 in Beverly Hills, California.  (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
    BEVERLY HILLS, CA - FEBRUARY 27: (L-R) Musicians Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines and Emily Robison of the Dixie Chicks arrive at the David Lynch Foundation Gala Honoring Rick Rubin at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel on February 27, 2014 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

    In the wake of Lady Antebellum rebranding as Lady A, there are calls for the Dixie Chicks to consider a name change.

    “This is a discussion we need to have,” opined Variety contributor Jeremy Helligar, “and they should be a part of it.

    “Their silence has been deafening.”

    Helligar, who is Black, said “Dixie” is “a celebration of a Southern tradition that is indivisible from Black slaves and those grand plantations where they were forced to toil for free” and “for many Black people, it conjures a time and a place of bondage.”

    The Dixie Chicks reportedly took their name from the 1973 Little Feat album Dixie Chicken.

    But, Jael Goldfine of Paper wrote, "most people associate their name with the popular nickname for the Confederacy.”

    On social media, a number of people have tweeted “your turn,” “you’re on the clock” and “you’re on deck” at the Dixie Chicks.

    The tweets follow a decision by Lady Antebellum to officially adopt its longtime nickname, Lady A. "Antebellum" comes from the Latin phrase "before the war" and is closely associated with the period in U.S. history leading up to the Civil War, when slavery was common.

    In a statement on June 11, the band members said they are “regretful and embarrassed to say that we did not take into account the associations that weigh down this word referring to the period of history before The Civil War, which includes slavery.”

    Of course, not everyone thinks the Dixie Chicks name is problematic.

    “Nah. The Dixie Chicks are cool,” tweeted one person. Another wrote: “While people are demanding the Dixie Chicks change their name Im (sic) hoping people aren't getting distracted from the most pressing issue: Systemic Racism in our criminal justice system.”

    The members of the Dixie Chicks have not yet addressed the issue.

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