Protesting Andrew Jackson

I recently met a guy who is protesting the presence of Andrew Jackson’s image on the $20 bill by writing ‘MURDERER’ across his forehead. He points out that Jackson became president on the popularity of his genocidal policies towards the Native Americans. Jackson commanded the US military forces in the battle against the Creek Indians which resulted in the loss of 22 million acres of their land. One of his first acts as president was to force the passage of the ‘Indian Removal Act’. Based on this act, he oversaw the illegal takings of Native American lands and subsequent, brutal relocation policies. He forced the relocation of Cherokee against a ruling by the US Supreme Court. Of course this relocation is ‘The Trail of Tears’ and is among the mostly widely known of the numerous atrocities the US government inflicted on the Native Americans.

Andrew Jackson was one of the worst presidents in the History of the United States and the fact that his image remains on the $20 bill is a clear sign that we have not yet even begun to make reparations for the genocide of the Native Americans. The guy I met was writing ‘MURDERER’ across the forehead of Jackson on every $20 bill he can & encourages others to do the same (be advised this act may be illegal). He feels this could raise awareness of Jackson’s genocidal legacy and hopefully lead to the removal of his image from the twenty dollar bill. He also said that much more needs to be done in order to even begin to make reparations to the Native Americans, but believes the removal of Jackson’s image would be progress.

PBS provides a pretty good summary of Indian Removal (click for link)

Some Native American viewpoints can be found by clicking here and here.