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I didn’t really expect to be pleased when (if) the Treasury actually announced plans to use a woman’s picture on American currency. Sure, I wanted to see Harriet Tubman on the twenty, but I also want to be 6’4″ and a millionaire and that ain’t happening either. From the New Yorker:
… On the Facebook page for the Women on 20s campaign, some of the most-liked comments criticized the Treasury Department’s decision. “Women ask to be on the $20, so we get offered the $10,” one person wrote. “Never, never give a woman what she asks for.” Another commented, “Placing a woman on a bill with Alexander Hamilton makes the same sexist statement that our currency has made all along—that a woman cannot be independent or important without a man.” And, “A man gets ‘final say’ over which woman. This feels like a slap in the face.”
The Treasury Department said that it had good reasons for its approach. The ten-dollar bill was already in the process of being redesigned, in part to safeguard against security threats. And it is produced in relatively low numbers, which will make it easier to insure a smoother transition. (The Treasury Department makes minor changes to bills all the time, but it hasn’t changed a portrait on a bill since the nineteen-twenties.) The department also pointed out that it is trying to be more democratic than usual. While the Treasury Secretary has final say on banknote designs, and usually takes advice only from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, this time Lew and other officials plan to spend the summer holding public meetings to get citizens’ input. There’s even a hashtag, #TheNew10, and a Web site, thenewten.treasury.gov, where people are invited to share their ideas…
When Treasury Secretary Jack Lew announced we’d settle for the ten and like it, because process, obvious jokes were obvious…
The fact that a (rumored) black man and woman have to share space on a dollar bill is the most American thing ever
— Adam Serwer (@AdamSerwer) June 18, 2015
Andrew Jackson must have some really good dirt on Jack Lew.
— Dan Primack (@danprimack) June 18, 2015
Screw Alexander Hamilton, that crony capitalist, we need a woman on the $10 bill pic.twitter.com/L5XL3XWrOM
— Justin Raimondo (@JustinRaimondo) June 18, 2015
There is only one true choice to put on the new $10 bill. pic.twitter.com/STx56AbacP
— Chris Cillizza (@TheFix) June 18, 2015
Per the NYTimes:
… “Some people are saying it’s a lesser bill, and in fact it is a lesser bill both in value and in the fact that it is much less widely viewed and circulated,” Ms. Stone said. “It’s not the face we see at the bank coming out of the A.T.M.”…
Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat of New Hampshire who had introduced legislation to put a woman on the $20 bill, said in an interview that she would file a new measure specifying the $10 note instead. She acknowledged that an administration can redesign currency without Congressional action, but said, “This is just a way to keep the pressure on.”…
But it turns out there are not only many feminists out there, but quite a few Alexander Hamilton fans…
Hard choices: Should we get rid of the hard-working immigrant on the $10 bill or the homicidal racist on the $20 bill? Hmmmmm
— Binyamin Appelbaum (@BCAppelbaum) June 18, 2015
Open Thread: At Least It’s Not A $3 Bill…Post + Comments (174)