Take George Washington Off the One Dollar Bill

I believe it is time to remove George Washington from the quarter coin and the one dollar bill. While we are about it, I think we need to tear down the Washington monument. The monument, besides glorifying this man, is unabashedly phallic.

I suppose it would not be out of bounds for you to ask me why I have come to this conclusion. Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson are considered the founders of the Democratic Party. Jefferson-Jackson Day is a Democratic Party fundraising tradition across our country. The Missouri Democratic Party has decided to change the name of it biggest fund raiser from the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner to the Harry S. Truman Dinner.

Let’s parse this for moment.

The objection expressed during the local NPR news story was that Jefferson and Jackson both were slave owners.   Nearly 30 percent of our presidents have been slave owners, a total of 12 of the 44 individuals. Of the first 18 presidents, 13 owned slaves. This is not an attempt to excuse, but we are all a result of the time and place our lives pass through. Norms also change with time and place.

Andrew Jackson owned about 150 slaves. In addition to the slavery another significant issue with Jackson was his genocidal lust in regards to Native Americans. Besides an unknown number killed in various campaigns led by him, at least 4,000 Native Americans died on the Trail of Tears. It can be argued in many ways that he is among the worse of our presidents. Every time I look at twenty dollar bill I think about his legacy.

Thomas Jefferson was truly a remarkable man, and one of my personal historical favorites. In many ways he set the rudder for our emerging nation.   He also owned over 600 slaves. When I visited Monticello this fact was at the back of my mind and bothered me immensely. Jefferson does not get off lightly when it comes to Native Americans either. Under his administration the Georgia Compact was signed. Our country was in the business of taking lands from the eastern Native Americans, forcing them westward, or working hard to encourage them to assimilate.

The Missouri Democratic Party chose to modify the dinner’s name using Missouri’s only president, Harry S. Truman. This is the man who made the final, fatal decision to drop the atomic bomb on two Japanese cities that resulted in between 129,000 and 250,000 deaths. There are many very good arguments to be made that the dropping of the atomic bombs were absolutely unnecessary. I do not see the renaming of the dinner for this president as an improvement.

PC, political correctness, seems to be running rampant currently. Some things need to go, derogatory ethnic terms, discrimination for any of the many supercilious reasons, etc.

Some PC things are just plain silly. Some examples I found with a quick Internet search (I did not fact check them): Baba black sheep changed to baba rainbow sheep; blackboards are now chalkboards – of course most of these have been replaced by WHITEboards – go figure. I am going to stop at two, this is a list that could go on and on.

One of my current personal favorites of PC policing is the denigration of the Confederate flag. The flag did need to come down from over the South Carolina State House. I remember my reaction when I first moved to Mississippi for work, and I realized that the Bars and Stars occupied the canton of the Mississippi state flag which was, ‘Oh my gawd, what have I done?” I remember another incidence in Jackson, Mississippi at a convenience store in a “black” section of town. There was a redneck (is that political correct? – most rednecks are proud of that term) with a t-shirt with a very large Confederate flag on it. One of my thoughts was how insensitive and in your face this individual was. Of course, my other thought was how insane it was to wear that article of clothing in that situation. I have a black buddy who classifies these types of folks as “ignorant”. Sometimes I feel he is being too mild in excusing certain racist behaviors. My whole take on the Confederate flag brouhaha is that it is an excuse after the Charleston shootings to avoid dealing with the issue of too many guns in our society. However, much of my DNA is southern, and the current campaign against the Confederate flag feels like piling on. Until a few years ago, in my ignorance, I never thought of the Stars and Bars as racist, but more like the symbol of a rebellious nature or perhaps southern pride.

Okay, okay, let’s get back to George Washington. Washington was among the richest and largest landowners in the beginning of our country. As such he owned or controlled over 300 slaves. By some accounts he was not a particularly benevolent slave owner. However, he did free the slaves he actually owned at his death. He was also another president urging the eradication of Native Americans as a separate culture by pushing assimilation.

So if we are in the business of whitewashing history why not start with the Father of our Country, George Washington. Unquestionably he was a great man, but he had the failings of his time.

So who could we use instead of George? A few months ago I might have said that we could replace his image with that of Bill Cosby. Obviously, that is not a good idea. What about Martin Luther King, Jr.? Given his reputation as a womanizer, perhaps we should skip that one too. Another of my personal favorite historical figures is Eleanor Roosevelt. Would that work? Probably not, her sexuality would certainly bother a segment of the population. Could we go back to putting British royalty on our money? That might offend the Daughters of the American Revolution. What about Atticus Finch? Given his characterization as a racist and Confederate apologist in Harper Lee’s new book we will have to bypass him also. Given the state of society someone like the Koch brothers, Bill Gates, or Donald Trump might be a more appropriate choice. Surely they could get the law changed to allow a living person on the monies. However, the best choice might be a generic, gender non-specific figure that hopefully would offend no one.

Once we do that instead of tearing down the Washington Monument we could modify it a bit and turn it into a combination of a minaret and church steeple with a big Druid knot on top. At the bottom of the revised structure we could have it guarded by Lord Ganesha. Finally, we will get Texas to write the history books for all of us.

Addendum: After the Trump Charlottesville fiasco BBC.com ran this article: Should Washington and Jefferson monuments come down?

References:

Wikipedia article on Jefferson-Jackson Day

List of Slave-holding Presidents

Wikipedia article on Trail of Tears

Ten Facts About Washington & Slavery

The Decision to Drop the Bomb

Flags, Deflection, Guns, Rationalization

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