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When Lady Antebellum changed their name to Lady A, there was a lot of consternation from the conservative/MAGA Confederacy. The argument was basically “what if ALL bands, restaurants, parks, states, etc change their Confederate-adjacent names, WHAT THEN?” I even remember a lot of people laughingly suggesting that the Dixie Chicks would have to change their names too. Welp. It happened.
The country trio Dixie Chicks have changed the group’s name to The Chicks in an apparent distancing from a name associated with the Confederate-era South.
The switch was not made with any kind of official announcement or explanation but simply with the release of a new song, “March March,” on Thursday. Its lyrics and video reference current and past public protests involving racial justice, police brutality, gun violence, climate change and LGBTQ rights. The video compares current themes to historical fights in the U.S. for women’s right to vote and the struggles for Black and LGBTQ civil rights.
The video also scrolls the names of dozens of Black victims of police brutality and those who died in apparently racially motivated confrontations, including George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Eric Garner and Amadou Diallo. The list of names that quickly flash by goes on for more than a full minute.
[From NPR]
Can I be honest? I 100% knew that “Dixie” was a term and idea used by racists and the Confederacy and all of that. But my association with the word was always just “Southern.” Dixie = the South. I thought the Dixie Chicks named themselves that because they were just saying “Southern Chicks.” Again, I knew there were bad connotations, but the women of The Chicks have never hidden their liberal/progressive politics. My point is that I felt like they – or anyone else – could have made the argument that the name was okay, but they’re trying to do the right thing.
Here’s “March March,” the single where they did their name change. Um…this is a really good song? Like, really, really good.
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