Singer Taylor Swift, has once again added her voice in support of the protests calling for equal rights and kicking out of racism in America, as she calls on legislators in her home state of Tennessee to remove all racist monuments especially that of KKK leaders.
The singer who recently blasted President Donald Trump for his response to the George Floyd killing and resulting social upheaval.
Taylor Swift took to her social media accounts made the call for the racist monuments to be removed in her home town, and elsewhere. Those racist monuments on her list are that of Nathan Bedford Forrest, who was a Ku Klux Klan leader as well as Confederate general.
“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 wrote.
“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
“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.”
She continued, “I’m asking the Capitol Commission and the Tennessee Historical Commission to please consider the implications of how hurtful it would be to continue fighting for these monuments. 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.”
“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 added.
Earlier in the week, the legislature passed a bill that released Governor Bill Lee from proclaiming Nathan Bedford Forrest Day, as the leader of the state traditionally would. Last year’s proclamation resulted in a firestorm, yet the day is set to be observed in Tennessee on July 13.
Other native daughters who’ve called for the statue’s removal include Reese Witherspoon, who tweeted, “We need to get rid of this disgusting symbol of racism. And every other marker of White supremacy in the state. The Great state of TN deserves better.”
“I 100% agree,” responded country singer Kelsea Ballerini.
While a lot of people especially whites who have joined the #BlackLivesMatter protests and are in support of pulling down all racist statues, others have kicked against it, especially in the United Kingdom. These people and Prime Minister Boris Johnson see these racist monuments as part of their history, and preserving it will help generations yet unborn to learn about their history….the debate is still ongoing…