Croatian Group Sue Bob Dylan for "Racism"
Bob Dylan is being sued by a Croatian community association in France for alleged "racism."
The International Business Times is reporting that the folk legend raised the ire of the Council of Croats in France after he spoke candidly on the subject of racism in an article in the French version of Rolling Stone magazine.
The offending quote stemmed from a question asking if Dylan—a famed civil rights activist—saw any parallels between Civil War-era America and today.
He responded as follows:
"[The United States is] too f-cked up about color. It's a distraction. People at each other's throats just because they are of a different color. It's the height of insanity, and it will hold any nation back—or any neighborhood back. Or any anything back.
"Blacks know that some whites didn't want to give up slavery—that if they had their way, they would still be under the yoke, and they can't pretend they don't know that. If you got a slave master or Klan in your blood, blacks can sense that.
He added: "That stuff lingers to this day. Just like Jews can sense Nazi blood and the Serbs can sense Croatian blood."
The last line is the reportedly the subject of the lawsuit, which the group claims likens Croatians to Nazis and slave owners.
The secretary of the organization, Vlatko Marić, decried Dylan's words in a statement given to the Business Times as "an incitement to hatred." Marić added:
"You cannot compare Croatian criminals to all Croats. But we have nothing against Rolling Stone magazine or Bob Dylan as a singer."
Dylan—nor a spokesperson—has yet to comment on the accusation or ensuing suit.
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