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Instead of focusing on the "blatant" behavior of state Republicans, Allison Russell says "we need to motivate, encourage, and empower the voters in Tennessee to show up at the polls."
Grammy-winner Allison Russell is speaking out after Tennessee lawmakers passed a resolution honoring another white Grammy-winning artist from the state while ignoring a proposal that would honor her.
The out Americana musician won Best American Roots Performance with her song “Eve Was Black” at this year’s Grammy Awards and was nominated in three other categories. Another group hailing from Tennessee, alternative rock band Paramore, also received Grammys for Best Rock Album and Best Alternative Music Performance.
Resolutions were proposed in the Tennessee legislature to honor both Russell and Paramore for their wins. House Republican Caucus Chair Jeremy Faison specifically objected to honoring Russell, causing only the resolution honoring the band to pass.
Russell initially took to social media to address the controversy, writing "I take it as a compliment.” She recently expanded on the incident in an interview with CBS Mornings, telling the outlet that "there's a pattern of behavior that's pretty blatant."
"Whether their issue with me is that I'm Black, or that I'm queer, or that I'm an immigrant to the U.S, I don't know. Maybe none of the above, but one can speculate that has something to do with it," she said.
Faison did not say why he bumped the resolution for Russell while allowing the one for Paramore, instead claiming to the outlet that the act of bumping a proposal is a "common best-practice policies that honor the deliberative process most states follow."
Hayley Williams, the lead singer of Paramore, told The Tennessean after the incident that "the blatant racism of our state leadership is embarrassing and cruel."
As her fellow artists and lawmakers like Justin Jones defended her, Russell continued to say that "I don't want to personally spend too much time shining a light" on what the Republican legislators are doing.
The musician instead celebrated her momentous win, and said that "we need to motivate, encourage, and empower the voters in Tennessee to show up at the polls."
"Never in a million years did I think I would hear my name called, and my song 'Eve Was Black' honored in that way," she said of her Grammy win. "It honors my whole circle of collaborators, the whole rainbow coalition. ... So many artists that have come before have kicked the doors open for an artist like me who in the past would have probably fallen between the cracks of genre to be recognized."
