It looks like America’s currency is finally getting a long overdue makeover.
It was recently announced that the former slave and abolitionist Harriet Tubman will replace Andrew Jackson on the front of the twenty dollar bill. However, Andrew Jackson is not being kicked off the bill entirely. According to Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew, Andrew Jackson will just be moved to the back of the twenty dollar bill.
I find that very ironic.
Both a slave and a slaveholder will be honored on a single piece of currency.
If you are not up to date on American history, Andrew Jackson was the seventh president of the United States, and to be quite frank, he was a jerk. (There is another word I would like to use, but I don’t think it is allowed to be in print.) Andrew Jackson was a slaveholder, had a tendency to get into duels where he killed people, and of course, caused the death of approximately four thousand Native Americans when he forced them all to move from their land east of the Mississippi River to Oklahoma.
Harriet Tubman is the complete opposite of Andrew Jackson. Instead of taking away people’s rights, she fought for them. She helped other slaves escape the south via the Underground Railroad and was a civil rights activist as well as a suffragette. During the Civil War, Harriet Tubman was a Union nurse, cook, scout, spy, and helped Colonel James Montgomery lead a raid against several plantations, helping to free more than 700 slaves in the process. Harriet Tubman also established the Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged in her later years.
Basically, she was a bad ass, and it is a disgrace to her legacy that she has to share the twenty dollar bill with Andrew Jackson.
Andrew Jackson never should have been on the twenty dollar bill to begin with.
The fact that he will still be on the bill is a big “screw you” to everything Harriet Tubman stands for. Though, I suppose it is fitting due to the racial tensions in the United States of America. Andrew Jackson not being booted off of the bill is just a reminder to us all that no matter what you do and no matter how hard you try, the old rich white guy is still going to get what he wants.
Andrew Jackson still being on the twenty dollar bill is a power play. It is just another reminder to women and people of color that they are still considered second class citizens in the eyes of the elderly rich white men in power.
The whole issue is ridiculous. The people in power were so close to doing the right thing, but they continue to screw it up. Doing this is like having a Nazi and a Jew on the same piece of currency. It is an insult to the oppressed person being represented.
Because Harriet Tubman was such a bad ass, she should have her own twenty dollar bill. She shouldn’t have to share it with Andrew Jackson.