Taylor Swift Demands Tennessee to Remove ‘Racist’ Statues

Taylor Swift posted a statement to her Instagram requesting for Tennessee politicians to take down statues that she believes symbolize “hideous patterns of racism.”

“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. “Edward Carmack and Nathan Bedford Forrest were DESPICABLE figures in our state history and should be treated as such.”

Swift made it clear that statues are supposed to pay homage to “heroes“, not “villains.”

She urged 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,” some of which commemorate the work of members of the Ku Klux Klan and Confederate soldiers.

Taylor provided us with a background on both Edward Carmack and Bedford Forrest and their harsh actions.

Taylor stated that Edward Carmack was a “white supremacist newspaper editor who published pro-lynching editorials.” Swift mentioned Carmack’s statue was destroyed during a protest last week. Tennessee in return promised to replace the statue.

Bedford Forrest, or as Taylor referred to him, “a monstrosity“, was a “brutal slave trader and the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, who mascaraed dozens of black Union soldiers in Memphis.”

After Taylor was kind enough to educate her followers, they took it upon themselves to take one step closer to making a change. This is the beauty of celebrities using their platforms to spread awareness to their followers. With more awareness, comes less silence.