Harriet Tubman, Prince and Me

Yesterday the Institute for Public Accuracy (IPA) asked me for a statement regarding the U.S. Treasury decision to share Harriet Tubman's likeness on the $20 bill with Andrew Jackson. He was the 7th president of the United States and a slave holder of 200 human beings. Jackson was the genocidaire of indigenous people in the southeast. Their stolen lands were then used to establish the plantation system which brought hell on earth to enslaved people. The slavocracy created a market for human beings that sent thousands of people from the north and upper south to the deep south. To this very day a majority of black Americans live in the southern states. Here are my first thoughts, a little too short and not yet thought out, but they sum up my feelings.

“I have serious mixed feelings about this supposed honor. Slavery existed precisely because of the almighty dollar. How are we honoring her by putting her face on money?

Tubman is deserving of great respect, veneration even. What she accomplished is unbelievable. She was a soldier and a revolutionary, a liberator. I no longer feel the need for acceptance from the larger society. Our heroes are ours and we can claim them without expectation or need that the U.S. government will give approval.”

After the statement was released I was asked for comment by media outlets such as KDKA radio in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I was invited to speak by phone on the Mike Pintek show. I didn't know who he was or that KDKA is a CBS affiliate but I didn't want to pass up a chance to speak on this issue.

While I was waiting to go on the air I of course could hear what was being broadcast. The producer told me to hold on and I first heard a Donald Trump campaign commercial. Yes. For real.

It isn't the first time I inadvertently ended up on conservative radio. It is difficult because interviews require a feeling of connection with the other person. That is hard to do when you know they are the opposition, the enemy if you will.

Anyway I could also hear Pintek speaking. He said there were reports that Prince had died. I looked at my laptop and sure enough. Some media outlets reported that he died. 

So finally I was on the air and the New York Times, Associated Press and others all confirmed that Prince had passed away. Pintek said he didn't know Prince was 57. I was surprised too until I said to myself, "You're 56. Of course he is your age." So I tried to talk about his great talent and the shock I felt but when I made the call I had no idea I would be doing a Prince obituary. It was funny because they kept interrupting my interview to report on Prince. I was supposed to talk for 20 minutes but the interview was extended to about 40 minutes.

Pintek wasn't horrible. He felt that it was an honor to put Tubman on the $20 bill but I insisted that it was not. She escaped a system caused by profits and it is not fitting to "honor" her with the instrument of her suffering. Those of us who do truly honor her should feel no need for approval or legitimacy from the government that said she could be owned like any other piece of property.

Finally he asked about black history month and opined that the country need only teach American history and shouldn't set aside time for different groups. I said he had a point as long as American history is taught with all of the ugly truths intact and inclusion of everyone's story. I recommended that his listeners read Lies My Teacher Told Me and I warned against revisionism such as that which recently took place with the Advanced Placement history test. Now high school students will essentially be told that American is a great place with a great history and great people and maybe one or two things are bad but those are in the past and no one has cause for complaint. I paraphrase but that is pretty much it.

By the way, I had to do this on my day job lunch hour. I was in a storage room because I needed
privacy. No complaints though. I also have a good story to tell.