Taylor Swift has issued a statement demanding that lawmakers in her native state of Tennessee take action to remove statues of historic figures linked to racism.
The 30-year-old chart topping star spoke out after a statue of Edward Carmack was pulled down in Nashville, while counter-protestors planned to protect a statue of Ku Klux Klan leader Nathan Bedford Forrest in the Tennessee state capital.
Taking to social media on Friday, Taylor expressed her anger at the existence of statues which depicted historic figures steeped in racism.
She also declared her outrage over US official plans to replace some of the statues that have already been pulled down by Black Lives Matter protesters.
She wrote: “As a Tennessean, it makes me sick that there are monuments standing in our state that celebrate racist historical figures who did evil things. Edward Carmack and Nathan Bedford Forrest were DESPICABLE figures in our state history and should be treated as such.
“Edward Carmack’s statue was sitting in the state Capitol until it was torn down last week in the protests. The state of Tennessee has vowed to replace it.
“FYI, he was a white supremacist newspaper editor who published pro-lynching editorials and incited the arson of the office of Ida B. Wells (who actually deserves a hero’s statue for her pioneering work in journalism and civil rights).
“Replacing his statue is a waste of state funds and a waste of an opportunity to do the right thing.”
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