Replace Confederate monuments with statues of Dolly Parton in Tennessee, petition says
A petition launched to replace all Confederate monuments in Tennessee with statues of country star Dolly Parton is gaining signatures online.
“Let’s replace the statues of men who sought to tear this country apart with a monument to the woman who has worked her entire life to bring us closer together,” the Change.org petition says.
Across the country, protesters against racial injustice are toppling statues and defacing monuments seen as embodying white supremacy, The Hill reports. And in the South, where monuments to the Confederacy are numerous, there’s a reckoning over such reminders of the region’s past.
State legislatures are feeling the pressure too, caught between demands that the monuments be removed, and cries that they should stay.
Kentucky lawmakers voted Friday to remove a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis from the capitol rotunda, McClatchy News reported.
Meanwhile, thousands are trying to save a Confederate monument residing in a northwest Georgia cemetery, according to McClatchy News.
The petition argues there’s another notable Southerner more deserving of recognition.
“History should not be forgotten, but we need not glamorize those who do not deserve our praise. Instead, let us honor a true Tennessee hero, Dolly Parton,” it says.
In Tennessee, lawmakers are clashing over a statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest, Confederate general and first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, that stands at the capitol, outlets report.
While Republicans stand their ground in favor of keeping the Forrest bust, Dolly petitioners may have an unexpected ally among them, according to The Tennessean.
Rep. Jeremy Faison, a Republican, argued in December that the statue should be removed from the capitol, placed in a museum, and specifically named Dolly as a possible replacement.
“What’s wrong with someone like Dolly Parton being put in that alcove?” he said.
Taylor Swift, a staple of Nashville’s music community, weighed in on the statue debate Friday.
“As a Tennessean, it makes me sick that there are monuments standing in our state that celebrate racist historical figures who did evil things,” she tweeted.
“I’m asking 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.”
The Dolly petition was started June 11 and has gained over 900 signatures as of Saturday, June 13.
Also noted is some of Dolly’s charitable work, including The Dollywood Foundation, and donations made toward the fight against COVID-19.
“Dolly Parton has given more to this country and this state than those confederate officers could ever have hoped to take away,” it says.
This story was originally published June 13, 2020 at 12:35 PM with the headline "Replace Confederate monuments with statues of Dolly Parton in Tennessee, petition says."