Jack Lew is the U.S. Treasury Secretary and he has made an announcement Harriet Tubman is the first selection in the petition to put a woman on the twenty dollar bill to replace Andrew Jackson. While Harriet Tubman was not my first choice, I do believe the list represented the Will of the People and she is an excellent choice.
However, Lew has made the decision to put her on the ten dollar bill and here's where he screwed the pooch so badly it started barking Janis Joplin's song, "Me and Bobby McGee." (The Guardian: Move over, Hamilton: woman to appear on $10 bill, Treasury announces)
However, Lew has made the decision to put her on the ten dollar bill and here's where he screwed the pooch so badly it started barking Janis Joplin's song, "Me and Bobby McGee." (The Guardian: Move over, Hamilton: woman to appear on $10 bill, Treasury announces)
Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose,
Nothing don't mean nothing honey if it ain't free, now now.
And feeling good was easy, Lord, when he sang the blues,
You know feeling good was good enough for me,
Good enough for me and my Bobby McGee.
The announcement is that Harriet Tubman will be on the ten dollar bill ... but ... she will share that honor with Alexander Hamilton. My knowledge of American history is not too bad but, in my reading, Hamilton was rarely mentioned in any context at all. America could be proud of presentation of Harriet Tubman on the bill but I suspect many people have no idea who Hamilton was and there's no particular reason to learn. (He was the first Treasury Secretary, as I now discover ... shrug)
Why should a woman have to share the honor with a man as this type of sharing doesn't exist with any other U.S. currency.
Moreover, why should a black woman share the honor with a white man, particularly given they had no involvement with each other's work in any way.
Furthermore, Andrew Jackson on the twenty dollar bill was a genocidal killer who shames America with every twenty dollar bill that changes hands. This is an international disgrace as the twenty and the one hundred dollar bills are the ones most likely to be encountered outside the U.S.
Jackson is directly responsible for the deaths of countless native Americans and specifically the Cherokee of Tennessee and North Carolina who were forced to walk the Cherokee Trail of Tears along which many of them died. There was no conflict from where they were living as they were simply living in their homes along with the colonials who settled around them and subsequently decided they wanted the Cherokee land. This was one of the most vile periods of American Manifest Destiny and Andrew Jackson was the most egregious perpetrator of it.
In my view, Jack Lew could not possibly have made a worse or more insulting decision than the one he has apparently already made.
6 comments:
He hasnt announced his selection yet. He stated he was going to get more input. His decision might be announced by sept.
Tubman did win the internet poll based on it being a $20 but that is just a popular vote which means little in this country
I took the statement as being more solid than that but, fair enough, more to come. I hope he comes up with a better decision than this proposal when it becomes final.
The validity of the popular vote is a big bucket of worms and I'll just slide on past that one as a tangle over the value of the Electoral College gets mixed up with it as well. There's lots of valid debate regarding the basis for that mechanism from each perspective but this one will slide on by in favor of some horizontal time.
It is only the $10 as it is up for renewal in 2020
WOW anniversary of the right of women to vote
Doubt Tubman wins
Germans warn your of their adherence to their bureaucracy but this situation could give them a good run for it. Hopefully it doesn't get politicized as that just makes things ugly and likely would take an endless time to resolve. I doubt that would leave much but the aroma of polecat in the air.
(Whether that's a good play on words or a cheesy pun is for the reader to decide)
Euros, 'polecat' is American slang for 'skunk.'
Here is Wikipedia's description of Alexander Hamilton: Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757 – July 12, 1804) was a founding father of the United States, chief staff aide to General George Washington, one of the most influential interpreters and promoters of the U.S. Constitution, the founder of the nation's financial system, and the founder of the Federalist Party, the world's first voter-based political party. As Secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton was the primary author of the economic policies of the George Washington administration. Hamilton took the lead in the funding of the states' debts by the Federal government, the establishment of a national bank, a system of tariffs, and friendly trade relations with Britain.
Harriet Tubman was responsible for many courageous advancements in social equality. However, Hamilton was responsible for development of a national currency and banking system. The United States were not very United and the country was in a very poor financial position after a long and expensive Revolutionary War. There may not have been a #10 bill or any bill for Harriet Tubman to be on if it wasn't for Hamilton.
Remarkable that history for the layman (i.e. me) has largely forgotten him. He doesn't even turn up in the "National Treasure" series with Nicholas Cage and Diane Kruger. From what you have shown, there is no reason to argue anything about him as his contributions are clear.
Comparing them isn't, in my view, appropriate as we could bounce that all day regarding anyone from subsequent times deserving such an honor and my thoughts on Jackson don't need to be repeated. To this day, Lincoln is often reviled in the South and I don't mean to defend that but I know the sentiment exists.
Your evidence gives plenty of reason to leave Hamilton alone. He earned his position on that bill and let him keep it. I believe I'll be sticking with my original position that Jackson's position on the twenty is not deserved. I've heard what he did justified in terms of being 'a product of the times' but that doesn't justify anything to me as I've also heard that as the justification for Muhammed having a nine-year-old as his second wife.
I'm sure there are valid arguments for why someone else is more deserving of the honor, assuming Jackson is ever replaced, but I don't think there's any doubt she's a valid candidate in that selection. Much of this is inevitably based on personal opinion as to the appropriate selection so, again in my view, social inequality is arguably where the U.S. is currently weakest and therefore Tubman is an excellent representative as one who worked at great risk to change that and her selection shows recognition there is much more to be done.
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