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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsA Unity Solution to the $20 Bill Issue: Add a New Denomination With Harriet Tubman
I think America is in need of an African American and a woman on paper currency. Harriet Tubman is a perfect candidate.
That being said, I don't think it was necessary to erase Andrew Jackson from the front of the $20 dollar bill.
A simpler, less divisive solution, that would've achieved the same thing, putting a non-white on money, and a woman on money, would've been to either
1. Make a new denomination-Nixon's reason for decirculating $500, $1000, and higher denominations of money, the mafia, is largely dead. Additionally, we've had enough inflation since Nixon did so that we could use larger denominations.
2. Tubman on a larger denomination than anyone else, even Franklin, would send a powerful message: a black person can be on the most valuable bill out there. It would also not create a narrative of throwing anyone else under the bus because no one else would move; conservatives would have less of a talking point, and only ultra-cons, not mainstream ones, would whine.
3. Presentism is not only ahistorical, but political dangerous for Democrats. You don't see Britain tearing down Oliver Cromwell even tho Oliver Cromwell is hated among Irish as Hitler is among Jews. Canada also didn't spread from sea to sea so peacefully, nor has any large country. Russia had similar issues against indigenous Siberians as it expanded across two continents. There is a line between self-reflection and self-shame that is very thin but avoidable to cross. No, America should never be overall ashamed of Washington and Jefferson, just as Princeton decided with Woodrow Wilson. Where are calls to remove Ulysses Grant, committer of America's only European-style anti-Semitic pogroms from the $50 dollar bill? He was a horrid POTUS too.
Jackie Wilson Said
(4,176 posts)ericson00
(2,707 posts)and help elect Clinton and make Democrats look better. The SJWs are risking hijacking the party and making it look too far left enough that Trump could have an opening.
Jackie Wilson Said
(4,176 posts)ProudToBeBlueInRhody
(16,399 posts)Fuck Andrew Jackson. I'm no SJW and he sucked anyway. Glad that Hamilton is staying where he is, that would have been a shame and besides his cultural relevance is bigger than ever.
Odin2005
(53,521 posts)MADem
(135,425 posts)system, even!
He was an unrepentant racist, too.
Harriet Tubman is where she belongs--on the most popular bill. The truth of the matter is this: black people built America. Their unpaid labor crafted the foundations upon which this nation sits. Giving a little space on the twenty to ONE BLACK PERSON who played a role in giving black people their freedom is certainly not too much to offer--in fact, it's damn little.
HT on the twenty is a victory for black Americans, and women.
You wanna put Jackson on something? Put him on a special quarter--maybe fire up another Quarter Series, chock-a-block full of Presidents. It'll take a ton of money off the market while people "collect the set."
Jackie Wilson Said
(4,176 posts)MADem
(135,425 posts)it'll look like he's STILL chasing her!!!!
I'm not down with this "Don't hurt those feefees" version of unity. I think they should just take him off the damn bill--he has outstayed his welcome, and really wasn't appropriate in the first place, given his views on paper money and national banks!
Jackie Wilson Said
(4,176 posts)all came up.
So by saying you still want him on the front vs her, knowing this about his hating paper money, you are saying that you have less than no respect for black people or their history.
You cant show less respect than saying we dont want this, but to keep it from a black person, we will take it.
MADem
(135,425 posts)I think you might want to erase that post of yours, calling me all these names, because you're totally on the wrong foot here.
Jackie Wilson Said
(4,176 posts)I wasnt talking about you, I was talking about the person you and I are both responding to
my fault, I could have made that more clear
MADem
(135,425 posts)ericson00
(2,707 posts)and plus, Grant committed one of the only anti-Semitic pogroms in America; where are people calling to remove him from the $50 dollar bill? Is Washington next? Is Jefferson next? how long before we remove states' names over presentism?
MADem
(135,425 posts)He was known as a winning Civil War general and a President. And a bit of a drunkard.
Jackson WAS known for his dislike of paper money and national banking, though. It was a big piece of his persona. He was a DUMB PICK from the git-go.
That said, if you don't want Grant on the fifty, get off your best intentions and work to get him off it. Don't say "Look over here!" because you're mad that they're dumping a racist who didn't like paper money off of paper money in favor of a minority woman hero of the sort that Jackson didn't favor.
I mean...come off it. Keep it real.
Jackie Wilson Said
(4,176 posts)realize who you are talking to.
MADem
(135,425 posts)sfwriter
(3,032 posts)Presentism. That is a term used by historians to denote a sort of anachronistic thinking IN WORKS OF HISTORY.
For example, if I were to say Jackson was a dick in the nineteenth century because he owned slaves, violated supreme court rulings and, you know, committed ethnic cleansing against the Cherokee, that is presentism. You can easily prove Jackson to have been a dick in his own time simply by quoting his slaves, the supreme court and the Cherokee (that survived) right there in his own century. Ta da, not presentism. Plenty of people thought he was an ass in his own terms, in his own time.
Now money, the money we spend and use here in the present, isn't susceptible to presentism. We decide what values we want to exhibit NOW. It isn't sacred. We don't see these men as demigods. We RIGHTLY see what he did as abhorrent to us today.
States names? Why not. It isn't presentism to change the name of something.
How about the Constitution even? It's not even presentism to change that, because like place names, THERE IS NO HISTORICAL ARGUMENT BEING MADE.
These arguments are about the present. People who shout SJW just don't know how to live in the present any more.
Perhaps what we need less of is less of your historicism. Oh ericson00, look away, look away Dixie Land.
MADem
(135,425 posts)gladium et scutum
(808 posts)Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)revisionist defenders of Andrew Jackson are coming from...
two weeks ago, if you had quizzed people on the street on whose face was on the $20 bill, how many would have gotten it right??
MADem
(135,425 posts)http://www.radiox.co.uk/news/fan-prince-on-a-20-dollar-bill-and-call-it-1999/#Jia04lC2YX2LWmFf.97
But that is a solid point you're making! I find the defense of this racist guy who didn't like paper money curious, indeed!
roamer65
(36,747 posts)You can have Andrew Jackson and Harriet Tubman $20's at the same time. Readers can be programmed for both and it would give some variety to otherwise boring money. If the US Mint can handle state and national park quarters, the BEP can handle two styles of 20's.
MADem
(135,425 posts)paper money hater who didn't like federal banks and never should have graced the bill in the first place.
This is an opportunity to correct a mistake. We should take it, and not pander to people who want to continue to lift up that genocidal individual for some stupid reasons that make no damn sense.
Let's acknowledge that he wasn't all that and a bag of chips, and put him in the dustbin of history and the back of the damn bill, where he's lucky to find a spot.
Svafa
(594 posts)erase history, even the ugliest parts of it. However, I don't think we should be putting people like Jackson in a position of honor (like on our currency) either. Yes, many of the founding fathers were slaveholders, but some spoke out against it (for what that's worth). Jackson on the other hand was a staunch supporter of slavery. And the crimes he committed against Native Americans are unforgivable. I was disappointed to find that he was still going to be on the Tubman bill at all (on the back). I absolutely oppose whitewashing American history, but I think someone like Jackson should stay in the history books instead of being honored by having his face on a bill.
spyker29
(89 posts)My Good Babushka
(2,710 posts)It would cost a lot to start to print another denomination of money, racists can get over it.
I wish we changed our money more often, like stamps. And had more colors.
scscholar
(2,902 posts)would really help the underbanked.
MADem
(135,425 posts)Ohio Joe
(21,761 posts)Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)Should be just fine, right?
Fozzledick
(3,860 posts)Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)rock
(13,218 posts)Would not be a good idea. How many $100 bills have you handled? Few, because they're rare? What we want is a common bill for Harriet.
MADem
(135,425 posts)KG
(28,752 posts)basselope
(2,565 posts)Svafa
(594 posts)at were hacked just last year, I'm using cash more and more, that's for sure.
ProudToBeBlueInRhody
(16,399 posts)Some small bakeries and shop still only take paper money and studies show people are more careful with their paper money as far as spending than just swiping a debit card.
struggle4progress
(118,323 posts)We change our bills from time to time
I've know people who could remember when Jackson wasn't on the $20 bill
Tubman is a genuine American hero
edhopper
(33,606 posts)there have been plenty more deserving than Jackson for over a Century. Either Roosevelt for two.
Dump him for Tubman and don't look back.
Response to ericson00 (Original post)
rjsquirrel This message was self-deleted by its author.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)Get jackson off the 20. Paper money is becoming increasingly irrelevant anyway. We should put turing or lovelace on the paper money, because it is all being replaced by computers anyway.
Brickbat
(19,339 posts)Egnever
(21,506 posts)I would be hard pressed to find it. I find it extremely difficult to believe there are more than a handful of people out there that give two shits who is on their money.
Iggo
(47,563 posts)Then they give a whole ton of shits.
Egnever
(21,506 posts)That care even with those caveats. Obviously deeply racist assholes are going to care but who gives a flying fuck what they think?
Jitter65
(3,089 posts)La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)this is correcting a wrong. no unity is needed. people who are jackson fans can just suck it.
(although, the genocidal maniac will still be on it)
JEB
(4,748 posts)tammywammy
(26,582 posts)Fuck the racist bigots. They don't want to use $20 bills with Harriet Tubman, then they can choose to not use it. Fuck them.
Iggo
(47,563 posts)pnwmom
(108,990 posts)ericson00
(2,707 posts)given the inflation we've said since they last existed.
Ilsa
(61,697 posts)Bank money counters, etc.
And Tubman isn't honored if she's on a bill no one uses.
1. Kick Asshole Jackson off the $20.
2. Put HT on the the $20.
3. Tell the racists who want to return to days of slavery, "Get over it."
ericson00
(2,707 posts)is "returning to slavery."
It's not. Its not like Calhoun, Thurmond, Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, etc. is on the bill.
Ilsa
(61,697 posts)whistler162
(11,155 posts)and change the face on the front every 10 or 20 years.
ericson00
(2,707 posts)have half of the bill of one denomination have one person, the other half have another. Europe has several versions of a single denomination in circulation.
Thank you for not jumping on me.
roamer65
(36,747 posts)Bill readers are programmable nowadays.
Enrique
(27,461 posts)even the conservatives have deemed this no longer worthy of making a stink over.
Mosby
(16,336 posts)Not creating more.
Response to ericson00 (Original post)
Post removed
denbot
(9,901 posts)FUCK Andrew Jackson, and the horse he rode to hell on!