ronnie van zant's (and - by extension - rest of band's 'politics') were pretty messy, debate still among skynyrd-philes (a group to which i do not belong) exists over meaning of song's chorus 'boo, boo, boo' following line about how much wallace was loved in birmingham, some suggest chorus was rejection of wallace - and, by extension - segregationist politics, others maintain that chorus was mocking opponents of wallace - and - by extension - supportive of segregationist politics...
by and large, members of lynyrd skynyrd considered themselves as working-class and thought of their music as working class - white southern working class with all contradictory racial/racist, sexual/sexist implications - rock and roll, for guys like them, wallace was a populist symbol who spoke/stood up for poor lesser-educated folks (and, by the time, 'swa' was on the airwaves, he was getting african-american support in alabama, eventually receiving a sizeable majority of black votes in his last couple of elections)...
of course, skynyrd decided at some point that they would appear on stage in front of a stars and bars backdrop, bit different attitude and environment than racially-integrated allman bros... mh
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