Taylor Swift asked to remove racist colonial statues, 'villains don't deserve statues'
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Taylor Swift asked the Capitol Commission and the Tennessee Historical Commission to bring down the statues.
After the nationwide protests, several colonial statues have been removed to combat what protesters by saying that they have a country's racist past. As now Taylor Swift asked Tennessee politicians to remove racist monuments, by saying ''villains don't deserve statues''.
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By posting the statement to her social media account on Friday, 'Lover' singer asked the Capitol Commission and the Tennessee Historical Commission to bring down the statues, "please consider the implications of how hurtful it would be to continue fighting for these monuments,".
As a Tennessean, it makes me sick that there are monuments standing in our state that celebrate racist historical figures who did evil things. Edward Carmack and Nathan Bedford Forrest were DESPICABLE figures in our state history and should be treated as such.
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) June 12, 2020
"As a Tennessean, it makes me sick that there are monuments standing in our state that celebrate racist historical figures who did evil things. Edward Carmack and Nathan Bedford Forrest were DESPICABLE figures in our state history and should be treated as such.," Swift wrote.
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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
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.
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) June 12, 2020
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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
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
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.
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) June 12, 2020
Carmack was a prominent attorney and newspaperman in Tennessee and served in the state senate from 1901 to 1908. His statue was first erected in 1927. Swift noted Carmack was known for writing pro-lynching articles and promoted violent attacks against the trailblazing Black journalist Ida B Wells. She suggested Carmack’s statue be replaced with a memorial to wells for her pioneering work in journalism and civil rights''.
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'The Man' singer also criticized the state’s house committee for voting against removing a bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate general who was once a top-ranking member of the Ku Klux Klan. ''His statue is still standing and July 13th is ‘Nathan Bedford Forrest Day’,” Swift wrote.
Swift is one of the celebrities who have come forward to help in the fight of racism.