Amid ongoing Black Lives Matter protests throughout the United States following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police last month, Taylor Swift has joined widespread calls to dismantle statues that honour white supremacist figures throughout the country.
The popstar took to Twitter late last week to comment that, “As a Tennessean, it makes me sick that there are monuments standing in our state that celebrate racist historical figures who did evil things.”
Swift specifically targeted a statue that celebrated white supremacist newspaper editor Edward Carmack, which was torn down during protests last week. The Tennessee government has since announced they will replace the statue, using state funds to do so. She also referred to Nathen Bedford Forrest, a slave trader and the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, who killed dozens of black Union soldiers in Memphis during the Civil War.
“Taking down statues isn’t going to fix centuries of systemic oppression, violence and hatred that black people have had to endure but it might bring us one small step closer to making ALL Tennesseans and visitors to our state feel safe – not just the white ones,” Swift added.
“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.”
As Consequence of Sound points out, due to the Tennessee Heritage Protection Act, public statues and monuments are not able to be officially renamed, removed or relocated unless two thirds of the Tennessee Historical Commission approve. Swift is asking the Capitol Commission and Tennessee Historical Commission to “consider the implications of how hurtful it would be to continue fighting for these monuments”.
See Swift’s full tweet thread below.
Edward Carmack’s statue was sitting in the state Capitol until it was torn down last week in the protests. The state of Tennessee has vowed to replace it.
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) June 12, 2020
Replacing his statue is a waste of state funds and a waste of an opportunity to do the right thing.
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) June 12, 2020
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.
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) June 12, 2020
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.
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) June 12, 2020
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. ?
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) June 12, 2020
