Taylor Swift Calls Racist Leaders “Villains”
Over the past few weeks, Taylor Swift, has shown us that she isn’t afraid to speak her mind. And boy, she doesn’t bother to sugarcoat a single thing. Just a few weeks back, before the #BlackLivesMatter movement gained momentum, the star called out President Donald Trump for his insensitive remarks on Twitter. She pointed out that he was doing nothing but insinuating violence. And promised that people would, “vote you out in November”.
And now, she’s at it again. The star left behind a Twitter thread, about the state of two specific Confederate monuments in her home state of Tennessee.
Swift pointed out that the statues of Edward Carmack and Nathan Bedford Forrest, which have been torn down and attempted to be removed, respectively, “celebrate racist historical figures who did evil things.”
Taylor Swift isn’t Afraid to get Political
Swift has even gone as far as pushing organizations like the Tennessee Historical Commission, to permanently remove these monuments. According to her, this is the first step to making the state more welcoming. And also inclusive of all kinds of visitors as well as Black Tennesseans.
While Taylor Swift did clarify that this move wouldn’t necessarily mend years of systemic racism, it was still a start. It was a way of making people of colour feel safer. In her long string of Tweets, the star even went on to call racist leaders, “villains”.
“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.’ And villains don’t deserve statues.”
Interestingly enough, Taylor Swift’s political awakening only occurred a little earlier in the year. It all began with her moving song, ‘Only the Young’. This tune addressed rigged elections, poor leadership, gun control laws and other issues plaguing the US. Since then, she hasn’t shied away from freely expressing her views on social media. In fact, even know, she’s channeling all efforts into fighting for the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Between making donations, urging and aiding fans to vote, to showing her solidarity with George Floyd protesters – it looks like Taylor Swift has decided to become a lot more vocal about this fight.
