"Virgil Caine is the name, and I served on the Danville train,
'Til Stoneman's cavalry came and tore up the tracks again.
In the winter of '65, We were hungry, just barely alive.
By May the tenth, Richmond had fell, it's a time I remember, oh so well.
Chorus: The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, and the bells were ringing,
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, and the people were singin'. They went
La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La
So the leaders said "A rain is a comin'. A rain to wash away the world. Pack your bags, pack your cars, and run. Its coming and we cannot stay."
And the people answered "But we have no cars. We have no money. We are too sick and infirm. What should we do? Where do we go?"
So the leaders looked around and said, "Um...the stadium? Yeah, that's right. Go to the stadium. You'll be....safe. We promise."
And the rains came. And the world was washed away. And people were not....safe.
More on the flip
Back with my wife in Tennessee, When one day she called to me,
Virgil, quick, come see, there goes Robert E. Lee!
Now I don't mind choppin' wood, and I don't care if the money's no good.
Ya take what ya need and ya leave the rest,
But they should never have taken the very best. (Chorus)
The leaders fled and some of the people, the better off, the less infirm, the healthy and the educated, the people who were white, they followed behind the leaders.
And the rest of the people were left behind. To die. Some alone in dark attics. Others packed like cattle...or like slaves...with no food or water. Or hope.
And the waters came and an entire region, an entire city, were washed away.
Like my father before me, I will work the land,
Like my brother above me, who took a rebel stand.
He was just eighteen, proud and brave, But a Yankee laid him in his grave,
I swear by the mud below my feet,
You can't raise a Caine back up when he's in defeat. (Chorus)
So here we are, almost a week since Hurricane Katrina has passed and still those in charge of our nation, continue to utterly fail to deal with the tragedy in the Gulf. An entire world has seen us turn our back on the poorest (and least white) amongst us. To practically abandon a whole class of citizens. And to completely fail to deal with a catastrophe. And if Al Qaeda ever needed a test to see if we could handle a major terrorist attack, well...Osama certainly has his answer: we can't.
And the response of our leadership? Pat each other on the back, blame the victims and cut Paris Hilton's taxes.
But even in the darkest of times, there is always a light, a small voice of Hope. Today the South is drowned. But the South SHALL rise again. And its up to the Democrats to lead.
It is up to the Democrats to declare: "The South shall rise again." To demand answers. To demand not $10 billion in emergency aid, but $100 billion to rebuild. $200 billion. As much as it takes. We've spent that much in Iraq. If we can spend it on people who just want to blow us up, we can damn well spent it on our own kin. We should demand that Congress and the Administration has not done enough and MUST do much more to rebuild. For the South shall rise again.
We Democrats should DEMAND that heads MUST roll for the utter failure to defend the South from this catastrophe, both from decisions made years earlier in not finishing the levees of New Orleans to decisions made today that resulted in too many National Guard in Iraq and not at home. In appointing hacks to run FEMA. In failing to work with our allies abroad quickly to get aid to the region. In failing to work with our OWN government agencies to get aid to the region immediately. For the South shall rise again.
We Democrats must seriously (for once) that the nation address the issues of race and class in this country. That the Sixties didn't finish the Dream. We must demand that the racial and economic apartheid in this country MUST stop. That when 20,000 poor black citizens are left to die it is an indictment of us all. But the South, ALL the peoples of the South, shall rise again.
And we Democrats must let the South know, that while the GOP is too busy passing tax cuts for Paris Hilton or going shoe shopping in New York City, the Democratic Party won't leave the South behind but stands firmly in Dixie's corner at this time of national tragedy. That we don't care who voted for us or who didn't, who is rich or poor, black or white. We're all Americans. For the South shall rise again. And there's a Donkey ready to carry it on its back.