Taylor Swift decided not to be silent anymore. After having long refused to talk about politics, the singer now expresses her opinion loud and clear. On the 2020 US presidential election, on his disenchantment with Donald Trump, but also on the Black Lives Matter movement.
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On Saturday, the American pop star split a virulent new message on his social networks. She calls for the debunking of statues of racist figures built in the state of Tennessee, where she is from. "[...] It makes me sick to see these monuments erected in our state in tribute to racist historical figures who have carried out abominable acts ," she wrote on her Instagram account.
Taylor Swift points in particular to the statue of Edward Carmack, a racist editorial writer from the end of the 19th century. He used his articles to call for the lynching of African-Americans and the destruction by fire of the office of Ida B. Wells, an American investigative journalist and black civil rights activist, who "in reality deserves a rules in his honor for his journalistic and activist work, ” adds Taylor Swift.
"Despicable figures"
Unbolted last week in Nashville by protesters after the death of George Floyd, the sculpture should soon be replaced by the Tennessee authorities. "A waste of state funds and a missed opportunity to do a good deed," said the 30-year-old singer.
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Another monument, this time erected in tribute to Nathan Bedford Forrest, is also in its sights. A Confederate officer during the Civil War, he is accused of having massacred a garrison of black soldiers from the North, before becoming the First Grand Sorcerer - equivalent to a chief - of the supremacist society of the Ku Klux Klan. He now benefits from a statue in his memory in the capital of Tennessee and from a commemorative day every July 13, the "Nathan Bedford Forrest Day".
Scoundrels don't deserve statues
Taylor SwiftState legislators passed a bill on June 10 that frees the governor to proclaim the day, but "Nathan Bedford Forrest Day" is continued, according to a local newspaper. "Edward Carmack and Nathan Bedford Forrest were despicable figures in the history of our state, and must be treated as such ," indignant Taylor Swift in his publication. Scoundrels don't deserve statues . ”
Read also: The very political history of Confederate statues in the United States
The American star concludes his message for the Capitol and Tennessee Commissions, urging them to take into account the suffering that the struggle for the preservation of these monuments could cause. "By continuing to fight to pay tribute to racists, you show the blacks of Tennessee and all their allies what your position is, and you perpetuate this hatred. You can't change history, but you can change that . ”
Two weeks earlier, Taylor Swift spoke to Donald Trump, promising that he would be beaten in the next presidential election. She also called to vote against him, outraged by the head of state's comments on the riots in Minneapolis. "After stoking the fire of white supremacy and racism since the start of your mandate, you have the nerve to play on moral authority before threatening [the use] of violence," the artist wrote on his Twitter account.
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This new position of the singer, long appreciated by the conservatives, risks once again displeasing Donald Trump. In 2018, the American president had explained via Twitter that he liked "about 25%" less his music, after the expressed support of Taylor Swift towards democratic candidates.