Luke Duke can drive the General Lee; Malcolm X can't. Our hesitation to think of protesters as "rebels" in a way that is similar to our glorification of rebellion in other forms belies our racism. Rednecks can pose on state house steps with their AR-15s. The Black Panthers can't.

For reference: The Dukes of Hazzard (1979-85) was a popular tv show (and later Hollywood movie) about a white family in a protracted battle with corrupt police. Bo and Luke Duke were the heroes of the show — “rebels.”

Further, the hit theme song by Waylon Jennings lauded the Dukes as “good ol’ boys,” “never meanin’ no harm;” they “beat all you ever saw, been in trouble with the law, since the day they were born.”

Oh, almost every episode was about resisting arrest (in the famed General Lee). And we cheered.