Taylor Swift is calling on Tennessee lawmakers to remove all « racist » monuments. The pop star, 30, made an impassioned plea to Capitol Commission and the Tennessee Historical Commission…
Taylor Swift is calling on Tennessee lawmakers to remove all « racist » monuments.
The pop star, 30, made an impassioned plea to Capitol Commission and the Tennessee Historical Commission on social media Friday to stop honoring historical bigots.
« 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 in a message shared on Instagram. « Edward Carmack and Nathan Bedford Forrest were DESPICABLE figures in our state history and should be treated as such. »
In the caption, Swift added: « When you fight to honor racists, you show Black Tennesseans and all of their allies where you stand. »
A statue of Carmack – whom Swift described as a « white supremacist newspaper editor who published pro-lynching editorials and incited the arson of the office of Ida B. Wells » – was torn down by protesters outside the Tennessee state Capitol amid ongoing anti-racism protests following the May 25th death of George Floyd, a Black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes.
