Down with the KKK and up with glorious Dolly Parton memorabilia, as Tenessee Capitol Building make a momentous change to eradicate the racist nature of their past, and embrace the more colourful and joyous elements of modern America. Yeehaw.
Former Ku Klux Klan leader and Confederate soldier Nathan Bedford Forrest has been memorialised with a statue in the Tennessee Capitol building since 1978. Now that a few decades have passed and America is catching up with their racist pasts, they are looking to replace the statue.
It probably isn’t wise to have a Grand Wizard representing the place, so one of the leading new options is country icon Dolly Parton herself.
It’s a pretty important decision for the people in charge to make and is definitely one that needs to be thought over carefully before it is made, as the last time a bunch of people got together to choose who to honour, well, we ended up with KKK worship being cemented into the town. Whoever is chosen to be the replacement will be cemented into history in the Capitol building.
GOP state Rep. Jeremy Faison has made some good points about the challenge this presents. As one of the legislators looking to have the Forrest statue replaced, he said he could “think of 100 other people deserving of that post” before suggesting Parton, as she is a country music legend and beloved national treasure.
“If we want to preserve history, then let’s tell it the right way. Right now there are eight alcoves [in the Capitol]. Seven are filled with white men,” said Rep. Faison “How about getting a lady in there? My daughter is 16, and I would love for her to come into the Capitol and see a lady up there. What’s wrong with Anne Dallas Dudley getting in that alcove? What’s wrong with someone like Dolly Parton being put in that alcove?”
Watch the video for ‘9 to 5’ by Dolly Parton.
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