Singer Taylor Swift has no time for statues dedicated to commemorating dead racists in her home state of Tennessee.
The pop star on Friday joined the surging nationwide backlash against monuments honoring racist historical figures with a withering thread on Twitter, in which she declared “it makes me sick” that they are still standing and advocated for the state to stop preserving such tributes.
Swift described newspaperman and politician Edward Carmack, whose newspapers published racist rhetoric, and Nathan Bedford Forrest, the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan — who both have statues in their honor — as “DESPICABLE figures in our state history” who “should be treated as such.”
The “Shake It Off” singer said plans to repair and replace the statue of Carmack, which was toppled in anti-racist protests last week, were “a waste of state funds and a waste of an opportunity to do the right thing.”
Swift, who remained relatively silent during the 2016 election but has since become increasingly political in the last two years, acknowledged that “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,” she wrote.
“We need to retroactively change the status of people who perpetuated hideous patterns of racism from ‘heroes’ to ‘villains,’” said Swift. “And villains don’t deserve statues.”
“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,” the musician concluded. “You can’t change history, but you can change this.”
Check out Swift’s full Twitter thread here:
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
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
FYI, 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).— 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
Then we get to this monstrosity. Nathan Bedford Forrest 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. https://t.co/n2DiEt9F3P— 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
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
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
- This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
