Do you love something enough to change it

[Music]

what do you love so much that you want

to make it better

what keeps you up late at night maybe

making you feel anxious but also

empowers you to wake up each morning

maybe it’s a passion for

mental health initiatives a sport an

organization you’re a part of

mine is country music i promise you

i know just how random that is but it is

my thing

if the decor wasn’t enough proof here

are some photos of me

with some of my favorite country artists

it has been such an important part of my

life and my healing journey with mental

health issues

and so i feel like the least i can do is

try and make it a safer space for other

people

i want more people to be able to feel

the love of country music by breaking

down the systems of sexism

racism and so many other forms of hate

that surround it

i love it so much because it made me

better

so my way of giving back to it is to do

all that i can

to make it better i’ve had depression

and anxiety since i was about

13 but like so many people i found my

joy in music specifically taylor swift

and she directed me

to a whole genre country music built on

storytelling about

love and death and disappointment and it

made me

feel that the very raw and deep range of

emotions that i was feeling were not so

far-fetched and isolating

i believe that music can save lives

because it helped save mine

i found the thing that helped me get up

every morning and whilst i’m happy to

say i feel like i have other reasons to

get out of bed now too

country music is still one of the

brightest lights in my life

it has given me purpose at the same time

though

country music has broken my heart

women are shockingly underrepresented in

the industry and those who

are allowed in are almost exclusively

white

dr jada watson did a report on year-end

country radio airplay between the years

2010

and 2019 meaning the top 150 songs

played on country radio in the us each

year and she found that 81.6

were by men whilst only 12.4 percent

of the songs were by women the rest by

groups with men and women

and all of these people were cisgender

in these 10 years only 24

out of the 940 songs on the charts were

by

people of color that’s 2.6

and only one of these 940 songs

was by a woman of color 0.11

that tiny sliver that you probably can’t

even see

on the pie chart by mickey guyton the

only black women

signed to a major country music record

label

so i didn’t know this when i got into

country music i mean i was a

young blindly privileged white teenager

i started listening because of taylor

swift i

saw myself in her she was thinking about

the words of high school whilst

i was living them her music was and

still may i say very much

is my happy place i then listen to

other successful women in country like

carrie underwood miranda lambert

casey musgraves cam the chicks dolly

parton

so much girl power and seeing strong

talented women

was really inspiring to me and when i

realized that women were

so underrepresented in the industry i

was

so angry and upset and made it a mission

to change that

sexism is of course real all of these

women though

are white it was only during my

undergraduate degree

where i did a minor in gender studies

that i finally understood

the role i had played in maintaining

whiteness in country music

as well as in other spaces i’d been a

part of

i was complicit yes white women

aren’t represented that is true but

black women and women of color

are not even included due to

experiencing sexism

and racism amongst other things as well

intersectionality is so important we

have to talk about folks who experience

multiple overlapping layers of

oppression

including racism sexism transphobia

homophobia

and ableism women are not a monolith and

if we try to universalize an experience

only the most privileged will be heard

one of the main reasons that country

music was able to make me feel less

alone

was because i am white i am here right

now

talking about country music because i

saw myself in country music

and i would country music is known as

the music of white america

and there is a whole cultural and

political history and background of the

industry to explain and analyze this

in short though the foundations of

country music are intrinsically linked

to african-american musical styles

such as blues rhythms and phrasing and

even the banjo

originates from western africa many of

the original

country artists like hank williams and

the carter family were actually trained

by black musicians rufus t top payne and

leslie riddle respectively

and they still never received the

recognition they deserve

in the 1920s white record executives

worked to commercialize the music and

split the genre in two

race music for black people and

hillbilly music which would become

country music was for and by white

people

so the country music industry would

literally

created to be a system of anti-blackness

yet country music is black music

and if you had any doubt that country

music is still deeply influenced by

black musical styles

just listen to some of the genre’s most

successful artists right now

florida georgia lion thomas rhett sam

hunt they all

use hip-hop and r b elements yet when a

black man

little nars x for example released his

song old town road

i’m sure you’ve heard it a country trap

song

bubble took it off that hot country

songs charts for

not embracing enough elements of today’s

country music

black music is only allowed if it comes

from

white lips whilst the country music

industry is a system of racism

country music is not just because mickey

guyton is the only black woman signed to

a major country music label

it does not mean that she is the only

black woman

or woman of color making incredible

country music

to name just a few reesey palmer

amethyst kia britney spencer edia

victoria

tierra yola lizzie no mikko marks chapel

heart crystal schwander

rhiannon giddens i mean the list is

endless

i honestly could go on and on about this

and i

have but i hope this shows you three

things

firstly how desperately country music

needs to change

secondly how much i care about this

genre and finally

how i care so much i want to change it

it is very important to say i will and

can never be an authority

or leading voice in this conversation as

a white person however

this is a white problem the race issue

in country music

and in most industries is whiteness

so it is my responsibility as a white

person who loves country music

and continuously benefits from it to do

the work

i’m not trying to center whiteness but i

am trying to highlight

that it is white people like me who must

change and make

change charlene oliver the founder and

executive director of the equity

alliance

said in a panel on this very discussion

black people didn’t start racism and

we’re not going to be the ones to solve

it

so what am i going to do to play my

small part in this

two and a half years ago i was

approached to be the country music

presenter for a new

radio show on wizard radio the uk’s

biggest online teen radio station

i said in my first meeting with the ceo

this is gonna have to be a country radio

show that works to disrupt the industry

that talks about the issues that cannot

be ignored any longer

that creates discomfort for the audience

and myself

a feminist space where we discuss

politics

racism lgbtq plus rights indigenous

rights and social justice

as i myself keep working towards

allyship

the ceo said i want us to be the ones

who are looked at funny at events

because we’re trying to stir the pot too

much

so do it and i’m very thankful for that

i’ve gone from crying in my room as a

depressed teenager

getting by on country music to talking

about it to 50 000 young people

of future every week i’ve interviewed

amazing artists like jimmy allen avenue

beat colley pierce

and when i interview people i always ask

them

what can we all do to make country a

better place for

women lgbtq plus folks and people of

color

i’ve had a range of answers but i always

love the reaction i get when i ask that

question from the

artists and their publicist and

management and the sheer

shock people aren’t used to being held

accountable to complicity

i know because it used to be me i’ve

attended industry events like press

conferences and

label showcases and i have conversations

with people

like i am right now talking to you about

these issues

that are so important and i don’t know

if i’ll ever get bored of it

i’m also doing my master’s degree here

at lse in gender studies and

have been focusing on gender race and

class in country music

and i’m planning on writing my

dissertation on white feminist movements

in the genre and how we must

approach advocacy through an

intersectional lens

but honestly lots of the time i think

what’s the point it is hard to

compartmentalize and

detach myself from the bad sometimes

country music has broken

my heart and made me cry my eyes out but

i guess there isn’t

anything much more country than that i

had a little breakup with country in the

summer of last year i was just

so completely and utterly demoralized by

the response

and violent white silence of country

artists in the industry

to the black lives matter movement i

felt so

ashamed to love something that is so

harmful and

is a system of anti-blackness in itself

the music of white america i kept

thinking

why do i want to be a part of this how

can i when

it keeps letting so many people down is

this

just a lost cause you know thinking

about all of these stories and truth

that we aren’t hearing

because the industry won’t just not let

them in the door they didn’t even

build a door just a solid white

wall we are so

lacking because of it the incredible

mickey guyton who i talked about earlier

debuted a song last year in february at

the country radio seminar to a room full

of almost all white

and mainly male radio executives it’s

called what are you going to tell her

and

is a song to people in positions of

power basically saying

how do you live with yourself for

allowing continued oppressions when it

even harms

your daughters here are some of my

favorite lines from the song

she sings do you let her think the

deck’s not stacked

and gay or straight or white or black

you just dream and

anything can happen what are you gonna

tell her when she’s

wrong i always come back to the song

when i’m struggling with country not

because it’s a

happy cheerful song but to hear mickey’s

voice in her words

she has experienced so much hatred for

being a black woman in country music

but she keeps trying to make it a better

place

this song is the soundtrack to loving

country music so much

you want to change it and if i call it

quits if

i don’t fight for the next generation of

country artists and fans

then what am i going to tell them that i

didn’t use my unearned privilege

to fight for them so i

keep waking up and choosing country

music

not that a 23 year old white girl from

london england can destroy the white

patriarchy of country music

but who am i to not give it my best shot

and

this is not a good white person story i

am not special

i will always still have so much more

work to do but i have this platform

on my radio show at lsd here right now

to play my small part to make country a

better place

and to speak up against the oppressive

systems that are taking

the truth out of country music because

country helped me heal so the least

i can do is try and heal it because i

love it so much so

i’m not telling you that you have to

dedicate your life to country music

feel free i’m not going to stop you but

what i’m trying to say is

letting your passions guide you might be

the best way to create

tangible social change whatever that may

be

nothing is too bizarre take it from me

maybe it’s football you know you just

love it and watching your team

walk onto the pitch at the beginning of

a match makes you feel an

unbeatable unity that literally rocks

you

or it could be academia your brain

craves to learn and

for that moment where something just

makes sense and the walls around you

collapse and the world gets bigger

maybe it’s gaming and the adrenaline and

camaraderie you feel while playing

is unmatched so in our last few moments

i want to give you a quick second to

think about

what it is that makes you happiest your

passion

just take a moment to think about the

things you love

so all industries have major systemic

problems

football has them academia for sure has

them

so does gaming and i can guarantee

whatever you just thought of also has

issues it’s down to the power dynamics

in our societies

that allow people to benefit from others

oppression

it might sound silly to think about our

hobbies and passions but discrimination

is rampant in all spheres of our

societies

they’ve been ignored for too long and

silence is complicity

but who better to fix these industries

than the people

who live and breathe for them and what

they produce that’s

us me and you and it is going to be

uncomfortable

to be confronted with the hard cold

deeply troubling and

devastating truths that plague your

happy place

it is heartbreaking and it hurts to

acknowledge our complicity in it

but not only do i want to tell you that

it is the responsibility that comes with

unearned privilege but embracing that

discomfort will be one of the best

things

to ever happen to you so what are we

going to do about it

what are we going to tell her i don’t

think you should

lose the love you have for your passions

because of the issues

i want you to use that love the energy

it gives you to make

change momentum isn’t created it comes

from somewhere

use that momentum that pulls you out of

bed in the morning to make a difference

to make it easier for other people to

get out of bed in the morning

to make your happy place a happier place

make the thing

you love better because you loved it

it is the love that i found in country

music as a depressed young girl that

empowered me

to pursue it as a career and it is that

same

love and passion that pulls me out of

bed

to try and make my small super niche

piece of the world better it’s going to

be a long journey but

it will always be worth it so i could

end with

so many different quotes about change

and growth and passion

but of course i will end with a country

song

maren morris sings when lines are

tomorrow drawn

can i live with the side that i chose to

be on

will we sit on our hands do nothing

about it

or will we leave this world better than

we found it

thanks y’all

you