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A country music legend waded into the Black Live Matter discussion and it looks like she handled the issue well. There won’t be any angry mob coming for her on social media, demanding a boycott to cancel her. Why? Because everyone loves Dolly Parton. The question of supporting Black Lives Matter is a hot button issue because what started out as a response to police officer-involved deaths – the Michael Brown case in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014 – has morphed into a Marxist political movement. The supporters of today’s Black Lives Matter movement don’t just want law enforcement reforms, they demand a fundamental shift in American government. The co-founders of Black Lives Matter, for example, are self-avowed Marxists. Can we support the equality of Black lives and not support the Black Lives Matter movement? Yes, a lot of people think that way. Americans believe in the equality of men (and women) yet when it all goes political instead of remaining an issue of basic humanity, the issue is conflated. I think Dolly Parton managed to walk a fine line and avoid the political discussion that other celebrities and public figures are eager to go on the record about. One of the reasons Dolly Parton has remained a country music favorite for so many years is because she doesn’t weigh in on politics. She is, above all else, not just a talented performer but a savvy businesswoman. So, when she was asked about supporting Black Lives Matter, she delivered a well-reasoned, sincere response. She is a little ahead of the curve, as it turns out because when everything associated with the Confederacy became controversial, especially names, she made some changes. In 2018, for example, she removed the word “Dixie” from the name of a dinner attraction at Dollywood. The original name, the Dixie Stampede dinner, was renamed Dolly Parton’s Stampede.
