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Why Placing Harriet Tubman on the Twenty Dollar Bill Should Insult You

4/20/2016

25 Comments

 
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There is the old classic song "Everybody Plays the Fool" by the Main Ingredient (the lead vocals of which were actually sang by Cuba Gooding Sr., the father of the well known actor) so I know most people have experienced putting yourself out for someone you were interested in, only to have that person give you not even the time of day.  If you were anything like I used to be, you tried so hard to get that person's attention that even the slightest effort they made to look at you, smile at you, extend even a casual word your way, created happiness in your life.  I long ago abandoned that co-dependent method of approaching relationships, but the model reminds me how we as oppressed people interact with the power structure that oppresses us today.  The slightest symbol of recognition towards us by the capitalist system generates excitement from all quarters of our communities.  The election of someone who looks like us as president.  We are so trapped in holding onto the presentation of this that we ignore the serious harm his administration has done to our people.  And before that, all Bill Clinton had to do was blow a saxophone and we were sold.  Playing a musical instrument, singing Al Green, all types of superficial acts and we respond with a level of respect and loyalty towards the system as if those people had offered us their only born child.  

Its as if we are just so oppressed that we will accept just about anything from the slave master and treat it like its our liberation they are offering us.  That's why I understand how many Africans undoubtedly reacted with great joy at the announcement today that the U.S. Treasury Department is going to start printing images of Harriet Tubman on the twenty dollar bill, replacing the image of Andrew Jackson.  To many people this act symbolizes a level of recognition from the system against the wrongs that have been perpetrated against us.  First, let's state that for Africans in the know, Harriet Tubman is iconic.  This is the woman who sacrificed her life countless times helping guide at least 300 documented Africans to freedom from slavery.  Just to negotiate the extremely dangerous terrain of transporting Africans from slave states to so-called free states, she had to endure life threatening conditions as a way of life.  Yet, she did it with dignity, grace, and courage.  She is a true heroine who deserves all of the respect afforded to her legacy and much more.  That's the reason why in spite of our emotional desire to see this gesture of placing her image on the money as recognition of her contribution, we should see this move for exactly what it is, a slap in the face to African people everywhere and let me explain why.

First, it is impossible for the capitalist system to properly honor Harriet Tubman's efforts to lead the underground railroad to liberate Africans from slavery when this system has yet to even acknowledge the system of slavery itself.  The capitalist system has never acknowledged the extent to which the slavery system has devastated, terrorized, and traumatized the African masses.  It has never acknowledged that hundreds of millions of Africans were brutally murdered during this system.  That we live all over the world, mostly in places that don't want us, as a result of this system.  Meanwhile, there are no major slavery museums in this country today.  There is no comprehensive curriculum on slavery in the public school system and there is absolutely no acknowledgement of the fact that the entire economic foundation of industrialization and the capitalist system was built on slavery and oppression.  Wall street was established as the financial center of this country as a result of that area of New York being the primary slave trading post of African people on the East Coast of this country.  Even Andrew Jackson, the thug who Sister Harriet's picture is slated to replace on the bill, came to fame as a killer of the Indigenous people's of the Western Hemisphere.  In fact, most of the people currently on the money were Indian killers and/or slave owners.  I have always felt this was fitting since U.S. currency more than anything else represents the blood and suffering to which this country is based upon.  So, why would I want one of our most sacred and respected leaders to be desecrated by having her likeness placed on that currency if I understand all that it represents?

Any logical person would have to agree that you cannot recognize the leader of the abolition movement when you haven't even acknowledged slavery as the tragic, traumatic, and horrific institution that it was.  To underscore, a recent Gallup poll indicated upwards of 60% of Europeans (White people) today do not even believe slavery to be that terrible of an institution!  Since such little effort has been made to truly educate people about the legacy of slavery, then this move involving Ms. Tubman can be seen as nothing more than the habitual effort by capitalism to take our images of integrity and justice and compromise them into the likeness that connects them to the capitalist system as if they are a part of the legacy of this terrorist society.  The purpose of changing the money in this way is to continue to confuse developing generations into believing that the U.S. is the just society they are constantly trying to pretend that they are.  If the country can tolerate an African president and African people on its money than surely the country cannot be racist?  The truth is that president is permitted to be president because he represents the interests of capitalism and white supremacy.  No less number of Africans are being incarcerated under his regime.  No less number of us are facing poverty, police terrorism, predatory lending, housing discrimination, job discrimination, disrespect, and alienation.  So what difference does it make to have Harriet Tubman on the twenty dollar bill if so many of us  don't possess the capacity to have any of these bills for our usage?

Some of you are perfectly ok with symbolic progress, but many of us are not.  Keep your twenty dollar bill and keep that murderer you had on it there.  That way, I can use that bill to educate our youth about the hypocrisy of this system.  As it stands, the bill and the system are completely compatible.  That's why I could never be impressed with superficial change like adding Ms. Tubman to the bill.  We are talking about a woman who dedicated her life to integrity.  Something the capitalist system knows absolutely nothing about.  I'm sure Ms. Tubman is turning over in her grave at the notion while some of you are satisfied with her face on the bill, Malcolm X's on the stamp, and streets named after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  Me?  I say keep your streets, your stamps, and your killers on your money because either way, I'm going to continue to educate about the true values of Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and everyone else who dared stand up against this backward system.  Such irony.  The money was built on slavery and now one of the best slavery abolitionists will be on the money.  Its sick.  Like a rapist creating a commemoration for the persons they assaulted without ever acknowledging their role in traumatizing those survivors forever.    


25 Comments
Dark Space
4/21/2016 10:26:07 am

Capitalism has several key tenets and characteristics and they include the voluntary exchange of goods and services, the ability to earn fair wages for your work, private property ownership, and competitive markets. Capitalism is NOT built on slavery, it is opposed to slavery by definition.

Capitalism may not be perfect, but what you are describing above is not Capitalism - what we have in America today is certainly not anywhere close to pure capitalism.

Reply
Kwame Binta link
4/22/2016 08:54:36 am

Capitalism is about exploiting the labor and the land of the indigenous people of the world so a few will have abundance and the masses get the crumbs...

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Dark Space
4/22/2016 09:45:44 am

That actually is the opposite of capitalism. I'm not sure what term you're looking for, but I'd encourage you to look up the definition of capitalism on dictonary.com or wikipedia.

It is about free people making free choices to trade with each other on a level in which all parties are content with the exchange (or if not, they are capable of no longer participating).

Kwame Binta link
4/22/2016 01:07:11 pm

They tricked you good man you tell that to my Ancestors and current prisoners locked up in the land of the free...leading the world in locking people.... wakeup study history

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sakfos
4/24/2016 09:04:35 am

Dark space your very definition of capitalism negates it when a person help captive is forced to be part of the exchange. Where is the free will of the pative in the exchange? So if we admit the historical fact America was built in a large part on the backs of captive lanor to produce goods of exchange then we must admit that era of trade was not capitalsim but something else. Call it what you will but by your ooen definitoon it was not capitalism. Therefore we must rewrite all the accepted economic theory of how capitalism has triumphed by building the most prosperous and wealthy societies because it is based on freedom. Perhaps we can accept that yes indeed the success of capitalism is based on freedom of some to exploit opportunity for exchange of goods at the exoense of the freedom of others. This fits the natrative of our history and current day relationships better. So since we are all now grown up and ready to face the truth lets agree that if you want capitalismvto "work" for you then better start looking for opportunity to take advantage of weaker persons,societies, or nations unde4 coercive terms of exchange that leave you ontop and the victim below. When you have made enough money and advanced yourself, society or nation, you can propund serious economic theory on how it was all based on free trade. This is coded language for saying you got what you have fairly and therefore the in built advantages the status quo gives you should continue. Let's man up and accept the hatd trith for what it is. It is only then that a forgibing genetation can workout a better system for all of us. Yes i mean all of us. You can't win alone or by race, culture or creed. But we got to bat for our team in a contest based of fair rules, otherwise we all loose.

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Pat
4/25/2016 06:57:24 pm

Dark space you made a very good and accurate assessment. Sometimes we have people so filled with resentment that they can't see the forest for the trees.

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Nam
4/21/2016 11:47:16 am

Ahjamu, very well written and explained. Thank you for the clarification. I hope you're well :-)

Reply
Ishakamusa
4/22/2016 11:29:36 am

Capitalism is the product of SLAVERY. Where will the child of a slave get money to purchAse the goods and services?
You say that the child of the slave will get a fair wage for eork done. But, who will decide what is a fair wage, certainly not the child of the slave, but the child of the former slave master.
In capitalism you say one can own private property. The odds have been AGAINST the child of the slave to earn enough capital tp purchase private property.
Finally, if the child of the slave can earnbarely enough to buy food to nourish the body for survival. Where will they get capital to enter the world of capitalist commerce to trade in competitive markets
Capitalism facours the children of the slave owners. As I said before, it is a product of SLAVERY.

Reply
Dark Space
4/22/2016 12:21:43 pm

? That simply has no basis in reality at all. Capitalism by itself would call for the person doing the labor in return for money to purchase goods and services is the one deciding the fair value he is to receive for his labor. He certainly would not agree to do the labor for free (slavery), and the person asking for his labor would not force him to do the work either - the entire concept of capitalism is that both sides of the transaction are entering it freely.

African slavery in the southern US to fuel the farming and textile industries (or in Northern Africa where white Europeans toiled in mines) was not pure capitalism because the parties were not freely exchanging their goods and services. It may have had some components of capitalism in there, but when a dog takes a dump it has components of his dinner in there too.

That's not to say the slaves of the US did not make contributions to advances for the overall country, because they did - the forced labor they performed propelled the commercial engine of the U.S. substantially - even if it was not by their choice. But, Forced Labor and Capitalism are directly opposing forces.

Capitalism is where all parties involved are freely making decisions to work together.

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BassFrat
4/22/2016 09:42:48 pm

I get what you're saying about Capitalism but the current system we are on is very unfair and crooked.

dat preacha
4/23/2016 06:57:30 am

White people "toiled" in mines in Africa because they were GETTING the profit from their "toiling". Please. Being dismissive based on a vocabulary definition that has no bearing on socio-economic realities is unintelligent. If you call a whip a willow it STILL hurts!

GD
4/23/2016 01:29:25 pm

A slave (African in this case) was in deed property not a laborer or even a human being. So a slave serves the same purpose as a horse (then) or technology (now) in a capitalist system. Slaves were the goods.

Onetime
4/23/2016 05:09:09 pm

America is purely capitalism. Maybe you need to look at the definition yourself. Their are 13 rich families that run america. And then. Back in the early 1900's when slavery was incorporated illegally, ill morally, in an indegenous land (lets not forget there was 13 colonies at one time not 50 states) it only exploited the evil in the men who run this country. Capitalism can be good. But the United States of America will exploit capitalism for self success no many how many innocent lives that are taken. But its the lynchings that make them different that alone makes them evil.

kwame binta link
4/22/2016 10:21:24 pm

The true historic reality of capitalism and also in its current state is about exploiting the labor and the land so a few will be wealthy beyond greed and the masses are left to fight over the crumbs. These are the facts....

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ibina cundell
4/23/2016 05:31:46 am

I agree with all you say but disagree that President Obama has achieved much - economy is improved, he has released a good number of prisoners - his hands have been tied time & time again - we can all see - he's doing his best in a rotten system - he is fully aware of it - his major achievement is 2 terms !!!!!!!

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de ama battle link
4/23/2016 10:42:51 am

Well, does the number 257 bills (plus) passed by the President mean anything to you???,,,, and why blame the President for not doing more when his thoughts and plans were rejected by...you guessed it....the very party/people he thought would be supportive. Eh!!!believe it or not.

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K Morgan
4/23/2016 11:32:08 am

This was a very well written, descriptive and interesting essay. I enjoyed reading a different side about this topic. I'm thankful that we all have freedom to express ourselves about topics like this. I agree that our country suffers from pretending to be something that it primarily is not. We, as a nation, have many hurdles that we still need to accomplish like racial and gender equality as well as strengthening our economy in a way that will benefit our country as a whole.
The only thing that I don't entirely agree with in this article is the claim that capitalism is the culprit for the problems that we face in terms of discrimination and the neglect to acknowledge the darkness in our history. Capitalism is actually the one component that will allow every one to thrive in a very independent way. I have heard so many sides about whether socialistic societies thrive better or if capitalistic societies are stronger and what I've come to the conclusion is that neither are wrong. In fact, what I see is that together they can work harmoniously for a society with everyones best interest at heart if done properly. Where we run into problems is simply found within human corruption.
Your article definitely touches base on how we have behaved corruptibly as a race towards one another. But the problem was not and will never be from capitalism.
Great article and thank you for sharing another side to it that I didn't think about before!

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Stephanie
4/23/2016 06:07:27 pm

Just shut up! All you guys do is talk a good game, what are you willing to do abou it? Are you willing to go to Africa and fight for your home and take it back? These idiots had gun powder to keep the Blackman in line, what your excuses now? And you talk about we accept anything from the masa...Well so do you and we (most) black women are tired of hearing it! Do something about what you are saying... Until then....Shut the Hell Up!!!

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Deion
4/24/2016 11:21:24 pm

You're Black, stop asking others to do something about it and do something yourself. Women ask for equality yet you're blaming the BLACK MAN for the issues surrounding the black community? Thats preposterous and despicable. As black people we didnt oppress ourselves, we were brought into an institution where we were thought of and treated as less. Its our duty as a race and an ethnicity to bring ourselves out of the slums in which they wish to hold us but to attack the black man as if he's to blame is pure wrong and it shows the lack of education you have on your own history

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Devon Strachan
4/24/2016 08:38:43 am

Real truth,every word of it.

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ODELLE K. GEORGE
4/24/2016 09:41:28 pm

I agree completely with your position. I could not have worded it better. Michael
Brown, Eric GARNER, Mr. Scott, SANDRA BLAND, Tamir Rice and all the others killed
BY the police on video. Never prosecuted
BY any court. I know black lives never mattered.

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WANM
4/25/2016 11:04:43 am

Stephanie above nailed it on the head. Stop complaining and do something! How many black people in American, including African born ones do you know trying to do something about Africa? The Jews felt oppressed after World War II but didn’t wait for their oppressor to provide them relief, they moved to a place where they could call their own and built it up from the ground. We black people can do much more for ourselves by trying to do something about our situation instead continue to complain. The president has his issues but injuring black people further is not one of them. He and his wife should serve us an example to the rest of us. Let us educate ourselves and strive to do better in life.

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William Zhangsun
4/27/2016 01:50:55 am

Will it settled better if we wait until socialism overtakes capitalism before we replace Jackson with Tubman on the bill?

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wannaKillSam
4/27/2016 10:34:33 am

Please cite an historical example where so called pure capitalism worked and thrived in a democratic way

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Karen Coad
1/27/2021 11:52:17 am

The comments took an bizarre turn and basically focused on capitalism. If placing Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill was the only progress being made, your hypothesis might be correct. But it is not. And how great, for African American children to grow up seeing a black woman on the $20, just as naturally as, it should be. You said that you wanted to keep Jackson on the Bill, so that you can keep reminding black children how bad white people are. To what end? It always surprises me when people don’t understand. The objective is about money, not color. The real people, in control, do everything they can to keep us angry and separated. Because if we ever got together, they would be crushed. And both sides fall right into place.
I am 65. I have never seen a time, in which white people have been more aware of the horrors and injustices experienced by black people. Can we ever feel, what you feel? No. So, you can’t ask us to. All we can do, is acknowledge it. Work to change laws and be aware of our behavior. Will there always be a percentage of people, who just don’t like the color or your skin? Yes, there will be. The goal has to be to “out” these people and keep them from having any positions of power. It will take a couple of generations to breed it out of them.
But please don’t turn this positive situation into something ugly because of your own anger.

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    I don't see disagreement as a negative because I understand that Frederick Douglass was correct when he said "there is no progress without struggle."  Our brains are muscles.  Just like any other muscle in our body if we don't stress it and push it, the brain will not improve.  Or, as a bumper sticker I saw once put it, "If you can't change your mind, how do you know it's there?"

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