In an address to the Capitol Commission and the Tennessee Historical Commission, the 'Lover' singer breaks down why she is against the restoration of white supremacist statues.
- Jun 13, 2020
AceShowbiz - Taylor Swift is using her platform to make a call against the restoration of racist monuments. Placing herself among the vocal supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement, the "Bad Blood" hitmaker called on the Capitol Commission and the Tennessee Historical Commission to stop honoring villains with statues.
On Friday, June 12, the 30-year-old singer made public her stand on the Confederate monuments debate in Tennessee. Through a post on Instagram, she expressed her disgust that "there are monuments standing in our state that celebrate racist historical figures who did evil things." She added, "Edward Carmack and Nathan Bedford Forrest were DESPICABLE figures in our state history and should be treated as such."
Swift went on to argue why the Carmack statue, which was torn down during the anti-racism protests, should not be re-erected in the state Capitol. "He was a white supremacist newspaper editor who published pro-lynching editorials and incited the arson of the office of Ida B. Wells (who actually deserves a hero's statue for her pioneering work in journalism and civil rights)," she reminded.
Touching on the subject of Forrest, the "Lover" singer pointed out that he "was a brutal slave trader and the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan who, during the Civil War, massacred dozens of black Union soldiers in Memphis." She continued, "His statue is still standing and July 13th is 'Nathan Bedford Forrest Day.' Due to social pressure, the state is trying to overrule this, and Tennesseans might no longer have to stomach it. Fingers crossed."
In her demand, Swift challenged the organizations "to please consider the implications of how hurtful it would be to continue fighting for these monuments." She added, "When you fight to honor racists, you show black Tennesseans and all of their allies where you stand, and you continue this cycle of hurt. You can't change history, but you can change this." She further noted that the restoration of Carmack's statue "is a waste of state funds and a waste of an opportunity to do the right thing."
While acknowledging that the removal of the statues won't "fix centuries of systematic oppression, violence and hatred that black people have had to endure," the girlfriend of Joe Alwyn noted, "It might bring us one small step closer to making ALL Tennesseans and visitors to our state feel safe - not just the white ones." She concluded her statement by declaring, "We need to retroactively change the status of people who perpetuated hideous patterns of racism from 'heroes' to 'villains.' And villains don't deserve statues."
