Today, Taylor Swift let her 134 million Instagram followers know her position on preserving monuments honoring racist figures. Her powerful post came just days after she finally advocated for the "Black Lives Matter" movement (opens in new tab) on Twitter.

"I hope the Capitol Commission and the Tennessee Historical Commission will consider the implications of how hurtful it is to continue to fight for these monuments," Swift captioned a lengthy post on Instagram. 'Fighting to honor racists will show black Tennesseans and their allies where you stand and continue the cycle of hurt. You can't change history, but you can change this?"

In her post, Swift talked about how statues honoring Edward Carmack and Nathan Bedford Forrest, historical figures with well-documented racist pasts, made nonwhite tourists visiting her home state feel unwelcome. George Floyd (opens in new tab), Breanna Taylor (opens in new tab), and Ahmoud Arberry are some of the controversial statues (opens in new tab) around the world in protests following their wrongful deaths. (opens in new tab)

"Removing the statues will not solve the centuries of institutional oppression, violence, and hatred that black people have had to endure. The status of those who perpetuated the ugly patterns of racism must be retroactively changed from 'heroes' to 'villains. And bad people don't deserve statues." Swift also shared this message on a Twitter thread.

The last time Swift mentioned the Black Lives Matter movement, she asked her Twitter followers to register to vote and directed them to former President Barack Obama's Medium article (opens in new tab) about continuing the movement's current momentum. She wrote, "Racial injustice is deeply entrenched in local and state government, and that's where change must happen." 'To change policy, we need to elect people who will fight police brutality and all forms of racism.' #BlackLivesMatter," she wrote.

Swift has been criticized by fans for not speaking out earlier about her political beliefs. Most notably, her silence about endorsing candidates during the 2016 election led to a conspiracy (opens in new tab) that she was sympathetic to white supremacist beliefs. That silence was broken in October 2018 (opens in new tab), when she announced that she would endorse Democrat Phil Bredesen in Tennessee's U.S. Senate race and urged her followers to do the same. Her recent documentary (opens in new tab), "Miss Americana" (opens in new tab), also depicts the motives behind this moment and expresses regret for not speaking out sooner. In an essay about turning 30 for ELLE (opens in new tab), published last March, Swift explains that she is just beginning to educate herself and find her political voice.

Swift's full comments can be read below: