Why did you all put Andrew Jackson AKA the native americans hitler ON THE TWENTY DOLLAR BILL?
I agree that putting Andrew Jackson on the twenty dollar bill is a travesty. The comparison to Hitler is quite fitting. But I fail to see how my suffering and death just because I’m a white atheist is going to help you or reverse any of the evils that have already been committed. I may be white, but I agree with Ward Churchill that white people should be concerned about the fate of the indigenous population, not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because what the powerful do to the indigenous population today, they will do to less powerful Anglos tomorrow.
Andrew Jackson did not have love for “most” Native Americans, but he did adopt a Native American child and abhorred the cost in lives of women and children. Jackson believe in protecting the sovereignty of the United States and saw the Native Americans as a threat to that. He did kill many Native Americans and was one of many Presidents that held the Natives in low regard, as lower than human and uncivilized. People can say that “it was the times” all that they like, but this country was founded by a group of men that nearly stomped Native Americans out of existence…and they had no right whatsoever to do so. I am reading an Andrew Jackson biography called “American Lion”, which doesn’t glorify the fact that he drank, was short-tempered, and started more than a few fights. The book doesn’t gloss over the fact that he fought and killed Native Americans, but it attempts to make us believe that it wasn’t personal….but that isn’t true and we both know it.
I have been wondering the same thing, too. I think we need to replace Andrew Jacka$$ with a great Native American leader. (I have a lot of respect for Native Americans for surviving and keeping their culture alive despite all they have been through. Also your people were not the only ones to get almost wiped off the face of the Earth. Several members of my family were murdered in Auschwitz.
Hannibal Missouri, the same town that in the 1980’s ground the “N-word” off of plaques about Mark Twain’s character “Slave” Jim, has no problems with the ‘Injun Joe Campground’ and other references to that character. I would suggest you get a group of Natives to contact their city council. I mentioned it to them years ago, but I didn’t have enough influence to be noticed. E-mail me if you want more details.
