PATRICK GARNER: Harriet Tubman and capitalism’s legacy

I have traveled to more than 30 countries, and the United States has the most boring currency on the planet. For one, while other nations have decorated their paper bills with various vibrant hues, our money is the same bland green and white. And, while other nations have adorned their currency with artists and scientists, all our money depicts are dead white men from the 18th and 19th centuries who dabbled in genocide, slavery, patriarchy and pedophilia, but, given the heinous standards for morality during their time, were actually good people, or so our children are still taught in school.

When Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew announced that Harriet Tubman would become the new face of the twenty-dollar bill, and that Andrew Jackson would be moved to the back, a reversal of the traditionally racist U.S. hierarchy when African Americans had to “sit in the back,” the reaction appeared mostly positive. The talking heads on Fox News predictably balked, accusing President Obama of political correctness, and Donald Trump and his surrogate Ben Carson suggested the two-dollar bill instead, which hardly anyone uses. But, for the most part, people took the news well and as a sign of a more inclusive America.

I have two problems with Harriet Tubman adorning our currency and granted, they are slight in the grand scheme of things. The first is that when one studies the annals of capitalism, one of its most shameful legacies is slavery. There is no benevolence in capitalism unless that benevolence is to make money. Employers will always pay the minimum they can get away with, which is why we have had to enact laws governing pay.

Slaves are ideal employees because they don’t require payment, which is why the slave trade was so popular among the wealthy who could afford them. And it’s why feudalism was popular prior to the American slave trade and why business owners are salivating over the prospect of replacing workers with machines. And if you have been to a Walmart lately, you can see for yourself that this is already happening. Isn’t it rather sad and tragic that a woman who spent eight years of her life resisting the worst practice of capitalism is being rewarding by being placed on a currency that was used for not only the purchase of slaves, but was itself the reward for owning slaves?

Secondly, I have a problem with the capitalist notion that individuals, not movements, should be remembered. By themselves, people accomplish nothing. Abraham Lincoln did not free the slaves. The thousands of Americans who spent decades voicing support for abolition moved the country to the point where it rejected slavery.

George Washington did not win the Revolutionary War. The people he conned into fighting the war for him with false promises of a better tomorrow won it, although, as our country’s first millionaire, and in some ways our first uber-capitalist, he was more than happy to reap the financial rewards and fill the power void the British left behind.

If you think about any politically positive characteristics the U.S. has, they are all because of national movements, not individuals. And, more specifically, left-wing movements that resisted tradition such as the abolitionists I mentioned above, as well as workers’ rights activists, civil rights activists, women’s rights and gay rights activists.

Conservatives like to credit the Constitution and the military with providing our freedom, but that is simply not true. If any of the framers of the Constitution were told that one day black people and women would be voting and be part of shared governance and the decision-making process, they would have either found the notion horrifying or hilarious, depending on the framer.

When I visited Indonesia 14 years ago, I noticed that they commemorated some of their currency with native animals such as the orangutan. I thought it was a good idea at the time, and I suggest that we do the same.

Patrick Garner is an educator and critical theorist who studied under philosopher Slavoj Zizek at the European Graduate School in Switzerland. He was a recipient of the Southwest Georgia 40 under 40 in 2013 and is an active ultra-marathon runner.