Dolly Parton’s Support of Black Lives Matter Celebrated With New East Nashville Mural [Pictures]
A new mural in East Nashville celebrates Dolly Parton's statement of support for the Black Lives Matter movement. Artist Kim Radford used Parton's quote as a last-minute addition to her pre-planned, newly installed piece.
Radford, a Nashville-based artist, tells CNN that she completed the new mural on Aug. 14, one day after Billboard published a feature on Parton in which the country icon expresses her feelings about Black Lives Matter.
"As I painted the final touches, I knew her sassy, loving quote ... would be a perfect finish to send out in my neighborhood," the artist says. "This piece was a passion project, and the timing was a happy accident coinciding with her press."
In the Billboard story, Parton explains that while she has not attended any of the recent Black Lives Matter marches or protests that have taken place following the May death of George Floyd, a Black man in Minneapolis, she says she "understand[s] people having to make themselves known and felt and seen."
"Of course Black lives matter. Do we think our little white asses are the only ones that matter? No!" Parton says. It's those words that adorn the top of Radford's mural.
Radford's mural adorns one exterior wall of the 5 Spot, a small club on Forrest Avenue in the Five Points neighborhood of East Nashville. The artist describes the venue as "a magical little dive bar," noting that "Dolly adds the mojo this neighborhood needed."
Parton has long walked a fine line when it comes to speaking out about political and social issues. She's voiced her support for the LGBTQ+ community, within which she has a large following, but she'll shut down questions about politics.
"First of all, I’m not a judgmental person. I do believe we all have a right to be exactly who we are, and it is not my place to judge. 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," Parton reflects. "I just try to be myself. I try to let everybody else be themselves.”
PICS: Dolly Parton Honored With New East Nashville Mural