PETALING JAYA, June 16 — Music fans are rallying together to demand that Confederate statues in Louisiana and Tennessee be replaced with monuments dedicated to pop icon Britney Spears and country queen Dolly Parton.
Two Change.org petitions titled “Replace Confederate statues in New Orleans with statues of Louisiana hero Britney Spears” and “REPLACE ALL CONFEDERATE STATUES IN TENNESSEE WITH DOLLY PARTON” have garnered 29,155 and 12,165 signatures respectively as of this morning.
Kassie Thibodeaux, who kickstarted the petition to immortalise Spears in her hometown of Louisiana, branded the singer “an inspiration to millions” on the page.
Thibodeaux cited the many philanthropic contributions the musician has made over her two-decade-long career as reasons to put up a monument in her name.
This included the …Baby One More Time singer raising US$585,000 (RM2.4 million) through her charity The Britney Spears Foundation, a large portion of which was donated to Hurricane Katrina relief programmes.
“(Spears has) already earned her star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, and now it’s time for her home state to honour her with the tribute that she deserves,” said Thibodeaux.
Alex Parsons sang similar praises of Parton in his petition, writing that the musician’s “philanthropic heart has unquestionably changed the world for the better.”
He drew attention to Parton’s Dollywood Foundation, which mails out one book every month to 850,000 children across the world to promote a love for reading.
Parton also donated US$1 million towards Covid-19 research at Vanderbilt University after the deadly pandemic struck.
“History should not be forgotten, but we need not glamorise those who do not deserve our praise.
“Instead, let us honour a true Tennessee hero, Dolly Parton.
“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,” said Parsons.
The petitions come in the light of Black Lives Matter protesters tearing down Confederate symbols across the United States, with activists saying that the monuments glorify slave owners and anti-abolitionists who fought to keep the slave economy intact during the American Civil War.
Al-Jazeera reports that there are currently 771 Confederate statues and monuments in the US, with the majority located in former Confederate states including South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee.
