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Fort Worth Man Defends Southern Accents On YouTube – And His Video Goes Viral

Chad Prather/YouTube
A North Texas man has defended Southern accents in a YouTube video that’s gone viral. ";

Five stories that have North Texas talking: ‘Unapologetically Southern’ video goes viral; a miniseries shuts down Dealey Plaza; a social studies textbook is under fire; and more.

A North Texas man has defended Southern accents in a YouTube video that’s gone viral. Chad Prather of Fort Worth says he’s “Unapologetically Southern” in a video that’s gained lots of publicity -- and earned more than 1.6 million views on YouTube. He's also made an appearance on Fox and Friends Weekend. Prather, who has created several YouTube videos, says he got a note from someone who was offended by his accent and claimed it showed he wasn’t intelligent. Prather decided to fight back by defending Southern accents. “Now after living all these years in the state of Texas, nobody yet has stopped me for using a phrase such as 'y'all' or 'gonna' or 'fixin’ to,' yet you say it makes me sound less than intelligent,” said Prather, wearing a cowboy hat and sitting in his truck. He told Fox News:"With the world being as small as it is, I think it's necessary that we learn to embrace other cultures. You see the differences and you don't hate them, you don't stereotype them. You just learn to appreciate them." 

Watch the YouTube video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=1&v=ORqbBpNuF-k

And here’s the Fox News appearance:

  • Dealey Plaza is shut down through Thursday because of a miniseries – and it’s snarling traffic. WFAA-TV reports: “The miniseries, based on Stephen King's novel 11/22/63, stars James Franco. It's about a time traveler who tries to save President John F. Kennedy from being assassinated. Roads around Dealey Plaza will be closed from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday.” KXAS-TV reports live blank gunfire will be heard Thursday. KERA's Kat Chow checked out the scene Tuesday afternoon. [WFAA-TV/KXAS-TV]

  • A social studies textbook is under fire for calling slaves “workers.” The Texas Tribune reports: “The publisher of one of Texas’ controversial social studies textbooks has agreed to change a caption that describes African slaves as immigrant ‘workers’ after a Houston-area mother’s social media complaint went viral over the weekend. … Roni Dean-Burren of Pearland posted a screen shot on Facebook of a text message exchange with her ninth-grade son who sent her a photo of an infographic in his McGraw-Hill Word Geography textbook. ‘The Atlantic Slave Trade between the 1500s and 1800s brought millions of workers from Africa to the southern United States to work on agricultural plantations,’ a caption on the infographic read.” [Texas Tribune]

  • A letter seeking permission for the release of school records for a 14-year-old Muslim student arrested and suspended after his homemade clock was mistaken for a possible bomb initially went to the wrong lawyer. The Dallas Morning News reports that three days after the Sept. 14 incident involving Ahmed Mohamed, an Irving Independent School District lawyer sent a letter to attorney Linda Moreno requesting permission to release records of the incident and the boy's disciplinary history to the media. Moreno appeared with the family at its first news conference, but says she told the school district's attorney soon after that she wasn't representing him. A school district spokeswoman says that after hearing media reports that attorneys Thomas Bowers and Reggie London were hired, they were sent letters Sept. 30. [Associated Press/The Dallas Morning News]
  • Meet the first female football player at Longview High School in East Texas. The Longview News-Journal reports on Claudia Mason: “With football in her blood, Mason takes the field every Thursday night with the Lobo freshman team, making her the first female football player to do so at Longview High School. ‘It means a lot for me to say that I've done something that not a lot of people have done before,’ Mason said. … Mason, who plays tackle on the offensive line, said she was involved in cheerleading throughout her life. ‘I was in cheerleading from pre-K until sixth grade and I wanted to do something different,’ Mason said.” [Longview News-Journal]

Eric Aasen is KERA’s managing editor. He helps lead the station's news department, including radio and digital reporters, producers and newscasters. He also oversees keranews.org, the station’s news website, and manages the station's digital news projects. He reports and writes stories for the website and contributes pieces to KERA radio. He's discussed breaking news live on various public radio programs, including The Takeaway, Here & Now and Texas Standard, as well as radio and TV programs in New Zealand and the United Kingdom.