Can Harriet Tubman Finally Get an Honor That She Was Given?
During the waning years of the Obama administration, there was a call out for putting a woman on the twenty-dollar bill to replace the civil war rebel and owner of live human beings: Andrew Jackson. Yes, the same person who also forced Native Americans to tread the Trail of Tears is allowed on our currency! The woman chosen was the heroic escaped Maryland slave who was a descendant of the Ashanti tribe in Ghana: Harriet Tubman.
While Jackson was busy owning people and mistreating them, Harriet showed her true colors by risking her life in many ways for good. After getting her freedom, Harriet made 13 more dangerous trips to free at least 70 family and friends. So very honorable. She also served our country as a spy, a Civil War nurse and even became the first woman to strategize a raid during the war.
Harriet Tubman was originally presented via a bill by the New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen and she presents it every year. The latest news is that Janet Yellen says that this will be done by 2030! Seriously? Why does it seem that all of the really good things put off until 2030? How hard is it for the world’s largest economy to start phasing out that horrible human and regrettable past president (Jackson) and implement the new design which has already been determined?
Many really wonderful women had been suggested and the excited vote came down to Harriet Tubman. Fast forward to the strange situation where we had a well-known racist, Donald Trump as our president. His treasurer was the LA area movie mogul
Steven Mnuchin who famously said “Not on my watch!” and that was that! Joe Biden said in 2021 that this was one of the things his administration planned on doing. We lose Roe and get promised that it can be codified into law… after 50 years where it wasn’t. How many times do women get pushed back, even symbolically? Why do we get all this dangled in front of us by the donkey party and stomped on by the elephant party? Is this some form of Southern strategy? A bridge too far that would hurt getting the votes from racist white men?
While we think that, for true equality, we should have women (or those identifying as women) on every single denomination of paper money. This would serve to kind of just feel like a step towards being equal, so can we at least get the one woman who was chosen!? It’s racist and sexist to not be doing this right now, it was already decided and unlike the ERA does not have to be ratified. It just was not implemented.
While the Biden administration has done other things to elevate women of color: a supreme court justice, his main press secretary, and his VP why not this? While Governor Desantis rages about this president being “woke”, it seems to be sleeping here. as it’s not even brought up anymore, other than Senator Shaheen. A lot of Disappointingacrats may have forgotten this slight, but the Women’s Caucus of the Green Party has not. Harriet Tubman was a great choice, as she so very much embraces the amazing courage to stand up for something very wrong in our country’s history.
Sure, it is federal money and there are reasons that some on the left despise the very idea of someone honorable being on any of this tainted money, all the more reason to start the clean up! The reality is we use it every day and we use the $20.00 bill is one of the bills used most of all. As it is, women are represented on the paper currency of almost every country and here, in the United States, the highest we can get is just loose change. Not to mention, that Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Hamilton, Jackson, Grant and Franklin were all white men. The high bucks were also white men …. $500.00 John Marshall (Q: who? A: supreme court justice). Hamilton (again) and Cleveland on the $1000.00.
We are renewing calls to just do it! Put our money where your mouth is President Biden.