Taylor Swift asks for Confederate statues to be removed from Tennessee

Last Friday (12 June), Swift posted a lengthy thread on Twitter about removing the Confederate statues across Tennessee.

Swift wrote, "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."

The Lover singer/songwriter states that despite the Edward Carmack being torn down during the protests earlier this month, the state of Tennessee still has plans to replace it. Swift added, "Replacing his statue is a waste of state funds and a waste of an opportunity to do the right thing."

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

Swift went on to encourage the state of Tennessee to remove the monuments, "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'," Swift explained. "And villains don’t deserve statues."

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

In the final tweets of Swift's thread, she wrote, "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."

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."

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