Taylor Swift has been in the limelight for quite some time now, but only recently did she start publicly voicing her political opinions. But with a following as big as Taylor’s, she has the power to impact millions and initiate real change. Last month, she spoke up on Twitter against President Donald Trump’s encouragement of military violence at Black Lives Matter protests.
“After stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism your entire presidency, you have the nerve to feign moral superiority before threatening violence?” She wrote. “‘When the looting starts the shooting starts’??? We will vote you out in November.”
It wasn’t an easy journey for Taylor to get to this point of openly speaking up about her political opinions. During the 2016 election, Taylor remained silent and did not publicly advocate for Hilary Clinton. But 2 years later and halfway into Donald Trump’s presidency, Taylor finally used her voice. She first spoke up against gun violence and encouraged stricter gun law. And then later in 2018 in an Instagram post, she endorsed Democrat Phil Bredesen, who was running for Governor of Tennessee.
“In the past I’ve been reluctant to publicly voice my political opinions, but due to several events in my life and in the world in the past two years, I feel very differently about that now.” She wrote on the post. “I believe that the systemic racism we still see in this country towards people of color is terrifying, sickening and prevalent. I cannot vote for someone who will not be willing to fight for dignity for ALL Americans, no matter their skin color, gender or who they love.”
In 2019, she donated $113,000 the Tennessee Equality Profit, a nonprofit LGBTQ+ advocacy group and encouraged her viewers to support the Equality Act. In her Netflix documentary, Miss Americana, Taylor addressed why it took her so long to voice her political opinions, saying she thought people just didn’t care about what she had to say and that she was just there to sing. She also candidly revealed how she was afraid that voicing her opinions would lead to criticism and bad press, but that fear has since changed. “If I get bad press for saying, ‘Don’t put a homophobic racist in office,’ then I get bad press for that, I really don’t care.” She said.
Just like Taylor Swift, we may no longer be silent. We must continue to use our voices to advocate for change.
