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