Should The Image of Slaveholding Presidents Remain On U.S. Currency?

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   wrenchBiscuitposted 10 years ago

   Should The Image of Slaveholding Presidents Remain On U.S. Currency?
   
   Tomas Young, the Iraqi War Veteran who died in 2014  as the result of war injuries said to America : "I have, like many other disabled veterans, come to realize that our mental and physical wounds are of no interest to you, perhaps of no interest to any politician. We were used. We were betrayed."
   
   Since George Washington was a wealthy landowning tyrant who owned , and most likely sexually abused slaves, I suggest that his likeness, as well as that of miscreants like Jefferson and Jackson be replaced by the likeness of Civil Rights Activists, or of true American heroes such as Tomas Young.
   
   

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   Ericdierkerposted 10 years ago

   What an interesting question and comment to go with it. And of course your picture speaks a thousand words.
   Your proposal does not attempt to rewrite history but change our perspective of it. Our current national conscience seems to running in the direction that you are suggesting. I think this question also brings to the forefront an issue that will be coming up a lot during our presidential contest.
   Can we or should we separate out the personal, financial and moral attributes of a candidate from those of their ability or justification to lead as a politician and representative? Should a great baseball player be banned from the hall of fame because he was caught gambling on the game. Should an historic figure have his likeness banned from attribution because he engaged in the most hideous of all activities of human trafficking and slave ownership and human abuse.
   Well when I look at it that way the answer is a clear -- get them off of there! Ban the bums!  That little lawyer in me, that is in all of us looking for a loophole, repeats the same old lame excuse --"look at the times". Well that just don't wash here. You cannot reward the same men who wrote the laws declaring a black man not a man(not to even mention children and women) by saying it was just the times they lived in. These men held these other men for profit or other personal gain. So take the likenesses off the currency.
   And here is the rub. Do not replace them with any other man. For in all men I find the fault that bans them from sainthood, adoration and admiration. I am sure I could look deep and find sins among even the slaves. So we must ban all human likenesses as symbols worthy of celebration. We must cease this practice of placing people on pedestals above principles.
   Or perhaps we want to hold certain folks up for the principles for which we recognize them and not for there sins. Maybe there is room in our small human minds to see the difference. Perhaps we can revere the Babe Ruth's of this world for their great play and not their wrongful other conduct.
   In the final decision I must say let them stay. I do not honor them for their hypocrisy and cruelty. But I do honor them for what they are being honored for. While wrongs must always be addressed and remedied it is by focusing on the good in all of us that we gather the power to move forward. If we direct our lives and our tributes based solely on the negative we shall soon focus only on that and lose sight of the dream.

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      wrenchBiscuitposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      But the sins of a womanizer like Jimmy Swaggart can hardly surpass the cruelty of "owning" a human being. Focus on the good? John Wayne Gacy  made children laugh as a clown. You are suggesting  an arbitrary  moral code: Presidents exempt.

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      Shyron E Shenkoposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      It is the practice of placing the images of our presidents on our dollar bills, good old George was the 1st president so it stands to reason that he would be on the one dollar bill. I doubt that 1 person in a hundred know of his atrocities.

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      wrenchBiscuitposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      The AIDS virus may appear small and insignificant, but it has killed millions. It is the same with these images, only a different context. The image on the  dollar is directly connected to the killing of children in Syria and Palestine.

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   M. T. Dremerposted 10 years ago

   I definitely agree that U.S. currency is in desperate need of updating. We're supposed to be a melting pot of culture, yet our currency only idolizes old white men. I was happy when Sacagawea got on the dollar coin, but it seemed short lived.
   
   As for the slave owning presidents, I think we need to tear town the notion of the founding father's as deities. Historical figures can still be significant. Obviously, if they hadn't founded the U.S., we never would have reached our civil rights victories. But we also need to acknowledge what they did wrong, so that we can improve. This notion that the founding fathers, and the constitution, are infallible has hurt us in the modern age. People cling to old ideals simply because that's how it's always been.

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      wrenchBiscuitposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Thank You Eric, Shyron, M.T.. I have posted a similar topic before and got even less of a response. People are so slow to catch on. From Jesus to John Lennon, they've been told what must be done. But they still don't get it, and so they keep dying.

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   feenixposted 10 years ago

   The US era of slavery was a different time and occurred among people -- including many blacks as well as many whites -- who held the views of the day concerning the issue of slavery.
   
   And it always makes me snicker when I see contemporary whites pointing accusing fingers at whites of the past who held black slaves. Chances are, or even more than likely, if those sanctimonious whites had been around during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, they would have been totally in favor of the institution of slavery.
   
   Personally, I am a black man who has moved on from slavery -- and I do not need some white to remind me about it.

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      wrenchBiscuitposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      It is not possible for a man to "move on"from the slavery of the antebellum  if he never lived in that time. All a modern man can do is accept evil, or rebuke evil. We can only gather from your "snickering" remark that you accept it. I believe  you!

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      feenixposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I swear, I do not understand what you are trying to say. And anyway, you are sticking your nose into a place where it does not belong. And besides, during my lifetime, I have known black people who had been enslaved. Can you touch that?

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      wrenchBiscuitposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I'm not surprised at your confusion. There are over 300 million slaves currently living in the U.S.. I don't know them all, but I have been acquainted with thousands. Welcome to the Slave State of the Second Order. The majority don't even know.

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      feenixposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Are you familiar with the Zulu of southern Africa? Well, their attitude is, even if one of them gets captured by another man, he is not, and never will be, a slave. And I am with them: I will never be a slave because I will always be free in my mind

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      wrenchBiscuitposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Well, if you truly believe that, then start living like a free man. What are you waiting for?

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      feenixposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Ronnie wrenchBiscuit, I have been living like a "free man" ever since I was about 16 years old, which was more than 50 years ago.

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   Old-Empresarioposted 10 years ago

   Hi Ronnie,
   
   No US Presidents were on US coins until 1908. Washington was not on the Quarter-Dollar until 1932. For that reason, I want presidents off the coins and currency so that the goddess Liberty can reassert her original place on them. But most national leaders in history were tyrannical in some way or another. Should we tear down Westminster Abby because the Kings of England practiced serfdom and tortured political prisoners? Even Lincoln, who owned no slaves tore the Constitution to shreds during the Civil War. Perhaps its best to honor no sovereign leaders on coins?

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      wrenchBiscuitposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      No tyrants need apply. There R  enough good peeps to replace them.We should tear down everything stained with evil.The estimated cost of Iraq and Afghan wars is between $4-6 trillion. Surely The Abbey could be demolished for far less than that.

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