Lyrics from critically acclaimed superstar Taylor Swift have recently come into question after critics have suggested they could be racist. Some have suggested that a line in which Taylor expressed nostalgia for the 1800s ignores the legacy of slavery that was pervasive at the time.
The lyrics in question state: “My friends used to play a game where / We would pick a decade / We wished we could live in instead of this / I’d say the 1830s but without all the racists / And getting married off for the highest bid,” she sang on the track “I Hate It Here.”
Users across social media sounded off on Taylor Swift, as they perceived her to be claiming she would want to live in the era of slavery, which wasn’t abolished until 1865. “There is no way Taylor Swift said she’d like to live in an era where Chattel Slavery was the law of the land and say ‘but without the racists.’ Like it was some casual microaggressions or something. Is this what we’re doing??” one user said on X.
“I mention Taylor Swift once for a joke and now I’m getting news about her, and I gotta say: pretty astonishing to stipulate that she wants to live in the 1830s, “except without the racists,” and not mention slavery, so slavery still exists but everyone’s chill about it.” another person wrote.
However, another X user stepped in, seemingly defending Swift’s lyrics, arguing from a logical perspective that if she is singing about a hypothetical 1830s in which there are no racists, then there would be no slavery by extension.
“If there had been no racists in the 1830s, there would’ve been no slavery. The enslavement of black people back then was an extension of some white people’s racist attitude toward them. They considered black people a lesser subset of humanity and therefore treated them as such,” they commented.
“I know I can’t stfu abt Taylor Swift but of all time periods WHY THE 1830s??? The most notable event from the time period is the trail of tears like I cannot wrap my head around it? Is this another one of her dumbass codes?” another person added, complaining about the mistreatment of Native Americans during the time period.
While Swift may be facing accusations that she is romanticizing slavery, the pop star has been highly vocal about racial justice in the past few years. During the Black Lives Matter riots in 2020, dubbed as the “summer of love,” she tweeted her support for anti-police rhetoric.
“Racial injustice has been ingrained deeply into local and state governments, and changes MUST be made there,” she wrote, adding the BLM hashtag and three various skin-toned fist emojis. “In order for policies to change, we need to elect people who will fight against police brutality and racism of any kind,” she added while sharing a link to an article by former President Barack Obama’s thoughts on the racial justice movement.
Taylor Swift has made headlines over the past year for her wildly successful Eras Tour, where Swift is set to make over $4 billion, according to the Washington Post. Reports last year indicated that the tour was the first to gross over $1 billion at the time.
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