Justin Timberlake called for the removal of Confederate monuments as part of a larger effort to address the history and perpetuation of racism in America.
In an Instagram post Monday, Timberlake noted that his home state of Tennessee has a plethora of Confederate monuments and said he’d been following the debate over what to do with these statues as it returned to the fore amid the latest wave of Black Lives Matter protests.
“There are roughly 1,848 confederate statues of in the U.S.,” Timberlake said. “More than half are in the South, and it’s not acceptable. No one should be protecting the legacies of Confederate leaders and slave owners.”
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In his post, Timberlake offered a frank reading of how debates about racism in America frequently take shape, noting that many people seem to view protests against racism as protests against America itself. “Why is that the reaction?” Timberlake asked. “Because America was built by men who believed in and benefitted from racism. Plain and simple.”
To that end, he dismissed arguments to leave that history in the past when “those men who proudly owned and abused Black people are still celebrated all over the country.”
He continued: “If we plan to move forward, these monuments must come down. But let’s remember: Removing these statues does not erase our country’s vile history of oppression — removing them is a symbol of respect for Black people in America and it’s a step toward progress and actual equality for all.”
To accompany his note, Timberlake shared a recent video from the American Civil Liberties Union, in which their legal director Jeffrey Robinson discusses Confederate monuments and the legacy of the Confederacy.
