Dollar Dollar Bill Y’all
The new Run the Jewels album is dope. I’ve been obsessed with one song in particular: “Ju$t”. Have a listen.
There’s something so comforting about Zack de la Rocha’s voice blazing into my ear drums during times of trouble. It’s nice to know he’s out there still fighting against the man. There’s a few parts in this song that repeat but I want to focus on one refrain in particular:
Look at all these slave masters
Posin' on yo' dollar
It’s true. We can go through it if you want…
$1: Washington - owned slaves.
$2: Jefferson - owned and raped slaves.
$5: Lincoln - didn’t own slaves but his legacy on the subject is complicated.
$10: Hamilton - didn’t own slaves but definitely dabbled in the slave trade and by dabble I mean he regularly bought and sold slaves.
$20: Jackson -LOVED owning slaves. Maybe the most vile American to ever live. Racism, genocide, he did it all. He’s America’s Hitler.
$50: Grant - owned a single man for a period of time.
$100: Franklin - owned slaves, later became an abolitionist .
Not a great track record there. Most of the people on our money were slave masters. I’m not oblivious to the notion that they were also founding fathers and have a multitude of other accomplishments that make them “worthy” of being on our money. It’s not surprising that a country would want to sanitize and lionize its founders. In many history books, especially the ones I read, Washington was described as a “farmer”. They usually had pseudo-accurate descriptions like “plantation owner” or “planter”. Rarely was slavery ever mentioned and if it was, it was usually qualified and excused by saying it was typical of the time and that they were “nice” slave owners.
I wonder what a black person feels every time they have to pay for something and see a face staring back at them that hates them? Think on that for a moment. As white people, it’s easy to ignore and look past the gross history of slavery and its relationship to our founders. The story that white supremacy tells us is comforting. It allows us to live in a country where racial discrimination was literally written into our Constitution and yet believe we are somehow free of this racist legacy. It allows us to believe that slavery times was long ago, that it happened in a past so distant as to be nearly biblical. It isn’t. There are people alive today who knew slaves. Yeah. I’ll say it again. There are people alive today who knew slaves! That’s not that long ago. And we like to act like it happened hundreds of years ago.
I cannot speak to what racial discrimination feels like. I can imagine and hypothesize but to say I understand it intimately would not be accurate. The best corollary I can think of comes from childhood. Picture your worst childhood bully. If you don’t have one, good for you. I do. I’ve got a few. But let’s focus on the worst one. Now imagine if every time you bought a coffee, he’s there, smiling right back at you. Vending machine trip? He’s there, judging your choice in chips. It would feel inescapable and smothering. Convert that feeling from childhood and now make it about your literal life. Your freedom. Your station in our country. Every time you have to pay for something there’s Georgie boy smirking back at you wishing he could own your ass.
Fuck. That’s heavy, no?
Well, I say screw them. It’s time we have some equity in representation on our money. Why is it all white men? And why are they mostly slaveholders? There was supposed to be a Harriet Tubman $20. That’s been delayed. We put Sacagawea on a mostly unused dollar coin. And what was her great accomplishment? She helped whitey of course! Not her people. Us white folk. That’s why we honor her. She allowed western expansion to continue which led to the genocide of god knows how many natives. She was also just 16 years old when she helped two grown ass men go hiking. Her legacy is also complicated so let’s not get into it now.
There’s all sorts of weird shit on our money. Take a look at that dollar bill above. Pretty straightforward. But the backside?
Look at that crazy shit! Pyramids. Creepy eyes. All sorts of Latin bullshit. The Great Seal. For all the people out there who oppose changing our money I’ll give you dollar if you can tell me what all that Latin means. My point is this: all this stuff probably meant something to someone at some time. I can guarantee it was white men who picked what should go on it. I can say with certainty it was white men who approved it. Where is the representation for everyone else?
Money changes all the time. Because of efforts to thwart counterfeiters the $20 bill has changed so much I’m not even sure what the most recent one looks like. Ever get a $20 from 1999 and it looks fake? How many different things have been featured on quarters over the past two decades? State, monuments, “America the Beautiful”. And we can’t get one damn piece of currency with a black face on it? This is an old game white people have played for years.
It’s called “we’ll get to it”. Want more representation on money? “We’ll get to it.” Want more protections against police? “We’ll get to it.” Want to ensure your right to vote? “We’ll get to it.” Like my dude James Baldwin said, “You always told me ‘It takes time.’ It’s taken my father’s time, my mother’s time, my uncle’s time, my brothers’ and my sisters’ time. How much time do you want for your progress?”
This is an incredibly easy step towards equality and equity that we can take. It might be the easiest. Let’s take those slave masters off the bills. All of ‘em. Sure, they founded the country but they are also the ones who setup the racist system in the first place! It is their prejudice, towards not only blacks but also women, that created the systemic racism that continues to haunt our society to this day. Fuck their smiling faces. Let’s get some new heroes on the money, ones that actually embrace the stated values of America. Slave owning, no matter how popular it was, is an automatic DQ for money status. Sorry.
These are the small things we can do to begin to turn the tide of white supremacy. We have to confront and attack it in all it’s forms. From statues of murderous traitors, to the slave masters posing on our dollars, we must face our racist past to have an anti-racist future. It is up to white people to make the progress necessary for our fellow citizens to be free.