Americans are growing increasingly divided over whether statues honoring Confederate leaders are Toxic or not — but one southerner has come up with a novel way to deal with the problem.
Kassie Thibodeaux from Rayne, Louisiana has launched an online petition on Change.org asking Governor John Bel Edwards to replace Confederate statues in New Orleans — with new statues of home state hero Britney Spears.
The petition already has over 4,000 supporters and is quickly earning national attention.
Me Against the Confederacy! A Britney Spears fan has started a petition asking for New Orleans’ Confederate statutes to be replaced with ones of the pop star
If You Seek Amy, racism! The petition’s author, Kassie Thibodeaux, calls Britney an ‘inspiration’ and points to all the charitable donations she’s made to Louisiana
They’re Toxic! Statues like this one of P.G.T. Beauregard were taken down earlier this year
Slave 4 U? So far, 4,000 people have signed the petition, calling for Britney to stand in for Confederate leaders
‘Do the right thing: Replace the Confederate statues with an actual Louisiana hero and influential human being, Britney Spears,’ the petition reads.
‘Not only has Britney proven her talent, but she’s proven her strength of character by not only overcoming highly publicized mental breakdown, but by continuously working towards improving herself. She’s an inspiration to millions,’ the page goe son.
And lest anyone thing the plea is a joke, self-professed Britney superfan Kassie made sure to list the pop star’s achievements and charitable activity.
She cites several fundraising efforts by the Britney Spears Foundation, noting that it donated to Hurricane Katrina victims. In 2016, she donated $250,000 to Louisiana flood victims, and she’s also currently donating $1 from every ticket sold to her Las Vegas shows to Louisiana public schools.
‘She’s already earned her star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, and now it’s time for her home state to honor her with the tribute that she deserves,’ the petition concludes.
Get in the zone: The author also pointed out that Britney showed ‘strength’ by overcoming a public mental breakdown
Local: Britney grew up in Kentwood, Louisiana, about an hour and a half from NoLa
Use this one? She’s already been immortalized with wax statues at Madame Tussauds
Not like this: In 2006, artist Daniel Edwards sculpted the star — without her permission — showing her giving birth
Fans from all over the world have signed the petition, writing that ‘she’s the only QUEEN in Louisiana’ and ‘She’s a legend, she’s legit, a true hero of the South.’
The petition really seems to be advocating for homage to be paid to Britney in the city, as the most prominent of New Orleans’ Confederate statues have already been removed.
In May, the city took down a monument to Robert E. Lee. Three other statutes were also removed, including one of Jefferson Davis.
‘This is not about politics. This is not about blame or retaliation,’ Mayor Mitch Landrieu said, according to Nola.com. ‘This is not a naive question to solve all our problems at once.
‘This is, however, about showing the whole world that we as a city and as a people are able to acknowledge, understand, reconcile and most important, choose a better future for ourselves, making straight what has been crooked and making right what was wrong.’
More monuments: Another petition is calling for a statue in Portsmouth, Virginia to be replaced with one of Missy Elliott
Context: The current Confederate monument in Portsmouth represents Infantry, Artillery, Navy, and Cavalry
Suggestions: Petition author Nathan Coflin said that he’d like the statue to depict Missy during her earlier years but joked that it may not be able to ‘stand the rain’, referencing her 1997 song
Britney isn’t the only music artist that some have proposed as a replacement for Confederate leaders.
Nathan Coflin of Virginia started a Change.org petition of his own, calling for a Confederate monument in Portsmouth to be replaced with one to Missy Elliott.
‘We believe it is time to finally replace the Confederate Monument in Olde Towne Portsmouth Virginia near the intersection of Court and High streets with a new statue of a true Portsmouth native hero,’ says the petition.
‘Who better to encapsulate the culture and spirit of the city enshrined in a new monument than Grammy Award winning rapper, dancer, and record producer Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott?’
Missy, who was born in Portsmouth, ‘is everything the Confederacy was not,’ the petition, which has over 30,000 signatures so far, adds.
Being that Missy is black and grew up in the South — where many still honor the Confederacy, which clung to slavery — the call for a Missy Elliott statue is, of course, a bit different than that for a Britney Spears statue.