Dolly Parton is the pride and joy of Tennessee, and now a petition has been launched to remove a statue of the Klu Klux Klan founder Nathan Bedford Forrest from the Tennessee State Capitol building and replace it with the country superstar.Launched by private citizen Alex Parson,
the petition reads, “Tennessee is littered with statues memorializing confederate officers. 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.” After listing many of Parton’s achievements, Parsons goes on to write, “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.”[video_embed id='1976244']RELATED: Statues of historic figures removed amid protests[/video_embed]The petition comes in the wake of the killing of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter protests that have occupied the streets for the past three weeks across the globe, sparking international and mainstream conversation about systemic racism, police brutality, and white privilege in a way that previously didn’t garner as much collective attention.The "Jolene"and "Islands in the Stream’"songstress, originally from Little Pigeon River, TN, has made it her lifelong mission to increase literacy amongst her native Tennesseans, especially children. Parton is the brainchild behind
Imagination Library which donates free books and awards scholarships to children in the promotion of literacy. Tennessee is also the home of the famous theme park Dollywood.Support for this petition has been as catchy as Parton’s hit "9 to 5,"
with fans taking
to Twitter to express their
extreme joy at the prospect of a
Parton statue at the State Capitol building. One fan asked the extremely
Parton-specific question, “will it be a full statue or just a bust?” (#WompWomp). Even famed Republican and former Presidential
candidate Ted Cruz tweeted his support of the petition.Parton’s petition has been echoed recently by Taylor Swift, who tweeted about how the monument to Forrest (and other racist historical figures) makes her sick, and how she finds the mere existence of these statues “despicable.”
Swift goes on
to tweet in the thread that Forrest was a “brutal slave trader” and links to an article that outlines his racist and violent actions.[video_embed id='-1']BEFORE YOU GO: Watch this husky totally ruin a yoga workout[/video_embed]
