Dolly Parton Backs Black Lives Matter: 'Don't Be A Dumbass'
When it comes to Black lives, Dolly Parton says it best: ‘Do we think our little white asses are the only ones that matter?’
Dolly Parton isn’t just the queen of country music, but of our hearts (and also the world). Truly, between her funding private COVID research, ensuring millions of kids all over the U.S. have access to books (through the USPS, thankyouverymuch), and her total embodiment of what it means to do whatever the hell you want with your body, your money, and your life — well, she’s an extremely relevant citizen of the world. Look no further than her recent thoughts and feelings about the Black Lives Matter movement for further validation that Dolly Parton is a f*cking legend.
In a new interview with Billboard, she makes her feelings known about Black lives. When asked about the current wave of the civil rights movement put into motion by George Floyd’s murder, Dolly shared her thoughts about it in the wide-ranging interview.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B9hVCIyFG43/
“I understand people having to make themselves known and felt and seen,” she said. “And of course Black lives matter. Do we think our little White asses are the only ones that matter? No!”
And there you have it. Honestly, what more needs to be said? A “blue” life isn’t a thing because you can’t remove Black skin at the end of a work day. And white people do not have a monopoly on existence.
But Dolly didn’t stop there — she also shared details on why she decided to rename a Civil War-themed dinner attraction at Dollywood, her theme park in Tennessee and Missouri. Two years ago, she changed the name of the attraction from the “Dixie Stampede” to “The Stampede” after she became aware that the term “Dixie” has painful, Confederate roots.
“There’s such a thing as innocent ignorance, and so many of us are guilty of that,” she said. “When they said ‘Dixie’ was an offensive word, I thought, ‘Well, I don’t want to offend anybody. This is a business. We’ll just call it The Stampede.’ As soon as you realize that [something] is a problem, you should fix it. Don’t be a dumbass. That’s where my heart is. I would never dream of hurting anybody on purpose.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/B7J7XMUFgAN/
It really is as simple as that. By eliminating any ego or defensiveness, you can just… fix the problem if you have control over it. And when it comes to white people and racism, well, yeah. We’ve got control over it.
The Chicks, formerly known as The Dixie Chicks, also followed Dolly’s lead and eliminated the word from their band. Just like that. Power and privilege can be used to make a positive change, people! When you know better, you should do better.
Don’t think for one second Dolly Parton doesn’t know how to appeal to the masses — she’s been doing it for six decades. Country music belongs to everyone, and so does Dolly. And while she has an excellent head for business underneath her signature blonde wigs, she hardly doles out the corporate boilerplate drivel to try and keep the wrong people happy.
“I do believe we all have a right to be exactly who we are, and it is not my place to judge,” she says. “All these good Christian people that are supposed to be such good Christian people, the last thing we’re supposed to do is to judge one another. God is the judge, not us. I just try to be myself. I try to let everybody else be themselves.”
