Understandably, there has been this idea to honor her by replacing Andrew Jackson with Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill. The nonprofit group Women on 20s launched the competition in March to choose a woman to replace former president Jackson [1]. After they tallied the votes, they found their winner. With those said 609,000 tallied votes, Harriet Tubman won the online competition to become the first woman on the $20 banknote in this grassroots campaign [2]. Although no decision has been finalized by the Treasury secretary, it looks like Harriet Tubman being on a $20 bill is a likely idea.

And with all the hoopla, buzz, and common place intelligence/ignorance being spewed on the subject, I’m not sure I like the idea of Harriet Tubman being on American currency.

Harriet Tubman on Currency is Troubling

Don’t get me wrong: my reasoning has nothing to do with being anti-progression or anti-women. Also, please don’t play the Raven Symone bit of “moving a bit forward”. If we went with Raven’s ideology, we would probably have George Bush and the Koch Brothers on our dollars. Nothing about my reasoning goes against progression or the opportunities made possible by feminism.

However, we are talking about Harriet Tubman being on the currency of a country that has very little respect for Black people as a whole. In the midst of rampant racism, Marshall law tactics, disrespect for the Obama due to skin color, and politicians showing their true racial beliefs, having Tubman on a piece of paper money seems to be oxymoronic at best. Am I supposed to be happy that a world renowned abolitionist gets honored on the money of a racist nation? As much as my 40 acres and a mule hasn’t been given to me, should I be satiated by the idea of one of the greatest women appearing in my wallet? Are we seriously going to say “Damn, that policeman whooped my ass. But I love the fact that Harriet is gonna save me from jail when they post my bail”?

How can we honestly want something like this to happen when we truly aren’t ready for it?

Also, has anyone considered how Harriet Tubman would react if she was aware of such? Would she be elated at this deserving honor? Or would she shake her head and say “My people still isn’t free, so why is my face showing up when you all have to pay a fee?” We have to take into consideration that everybody wouldn’t be cool with their likeness being used. And we damn sure need to make sure that the use of such likeness represents whatever it is used for.

I’m not saying Harriet Tubman is anti-American; I am damn sure that she is anti-American-bullshit.

Harriet Tubman Epilogue

As much as Harriet Tubman deserves to be put on a $20 bill, America does not deserve to have her likeness associated with its money. Harriet Tubman is synonymous with freedom, women’s suffrage, and humanitarianism. America is synonymous with slavery, sexism, and racism. We can honor Harriet Tubman because she deserves it. But, putting her on a money in a nation that rarely honors her core values is a sham and a disservice.

‘Nuff Said and ‘Nuff Respect!!!

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The Youtube video, which has been taken down due to Black Twitter’s barrage of angry tweets, was supposed to be a sex tape of Harriet Tubman. Details of the video are sketchy, especially now since it has been deleted. I’ve never watched the video because of the fact that such a video was made was mind boggling enough, but the fact that it was produced with Russell Simmons’ – a well-respected member of the hip-hop and music community – having a hand in the process of putting it together – he probably was at the helm – only produced another moment for black folks to hang their heads in shame.

The mainstream seems to be on a mission to decimate the importance of black American history. With Lil’ Wayne’s Emmitt Till lyric, the spat between Jay Z and Harry Belafonte, and now this shit with the slave rape video, it disappoints the hell outta me that some brothas (and sistas) have such a latent disrespect of history for the sake of hits, money or just cause. They would smash notable figures in order to create some cheap shindig that’s not enjoyable, artistic or entertaining.

It makes me ashamed to be a black male that a video that has turned the memory of one of black America’s most brave warriors into a punchline that only the likes of the KKK would find as humorous. It’s more painful to see that there is an apparent segment of black Americans who would die laughing at this piece. It makes me wonder where did black America go wrong to allow our entertainment to go this far? Not only are there individuals who would make a mockery of their history, but will degrade black women as well.

When Rick Ross made a song that contained a lyric that suggests date rape, there was a firestorm calling for responsibility. Yet, the fact that such a lyric was thought of and was evidently approved by music execs shows a glaring problem in this nation, and the black community must take notice that lurks in their neighborhoods. Misogyny is a major problem that we are facing, and it must be dealt with.

And I’m not laying the blame entirely at the feet of the white male dominated media. The rape of black women continues to not only be encouraged and practiced, but is also supported and excused, not just by white males, but by black males. Our brothas!

Several years ago, the news was buzzing about the Dunbar Village gang rape in which a group of young black men held a Haitian black mother and his son hostage in their home and forced the son to commit incestuous acts against his own mother,  physically torturing and sodomizing them. Four of the ten(?) rapists were caught, tried and sentenced.

Back then, the young thugs had supporters, including Rev. Al Sharpton himself, who claimed that the Florida justice system was being unfair to them as far as sentencing goes, as opposed to another rape case in which five young teenage men was accused of sexually assaulting teenage girls who were drunk with shots of vodka!

Arguments surfaced how the young black men were railroaded into the system, that it was a plot to send more black males into the prison system. A mother and her son who were victims of a heinous crime seemed lost in translation by certain people who wished to see the gang free. They saw the young men as those who needed more help than the victims!

The problem is that NONE of the young brothas were innocent. There was hard, irrefutable evidence that they participated in these horrible acts. And it was more than obvious that some people can’t understand what justice is as opposed to simply “protecting the black man”.

Some people are too blind to want to protect black males (mostly as opposed to protecting black females) that they are willing to go through hell or high water to protect any black men, even the ones who have – undoubtedly – did something stupid or destructive, even at the expense of other blacks. No one denies that racism against black men is still high in this country, but the ones who have contributed to intra-racism, internalize and external, need to be called the fuck out .

They also need to consider the well-being of black women in our struggles. Black power must not be a males-only movement.  Fighting for the black community requires that ALL members must be valued, and we must seek justice for our people even if members of our group are against us.

Of course, we can discuss and debate the factors that lead to the gang-rape. We can say how the young men were poor, had violent childhoods and no positive male role models. We can point out that it’s not just black men with misogynistic attitudes towards women. We can also acknowledge similar incidents of white males raping women. It doesn’t take away the the fact that these men committed a horrible crime against a black mother and her child. They needed to be off the streets and held accountable. Yet, it doesn’t diffuse that there still is a minority of black men with hateful attitudes toward women, especially black women.

Going back to this insult of a video, yes, what Russell Simmons did was shameful, not just to him, but to all of us. Even though we didn’t take part in the production of the slave sex video or even clicked on the link to watch it, we still feel embarrassed. (This comes from being a member of a minority in a white racist nation.)

I am very angry that such a video is out there produced by a black man whom I once had the up most respect for. I am vexed that he and the people behind the scenes and in front of the camera participated in its creation. I am sore that they would dare trample over the legacy of a great black woman. And I am saddened that in the 2010’s, internalized racism is still around. It shows that it’s not enough that it’s up to us to control our own images, but it still matters as to who controls them, even if they are black themselves. If they have poor attitudes regarding blacks, expect the products to be no different than that of a sheltered, racist, sexist white person.

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