Removal of Andrew Jackson's name from the Tennessee Democratic Party's annual fundraiser

The annual and biggest fundraiser of the Tennessee Democratic Party is called Jackson Day named after President Andrew Jackson.  Jackson was an 1812 War Hero, the founder of the Democratic Party and from Tennessee.  Jackson owned three plantations with hundreds of slaves and was a fierce anti-abolishionist.  Jackson is mostly  remembered for the forceful removal of tens of thousands of Native Americans from their homelands-the Trail of Tears-and he is the only U.S. President to defy a Supreme Court order which was the subject of the removal of the Cherokees.  In 1831, the Cherokee Nation appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court and won, the State of Georgia refused to abide by the ruling and President Jackson refused to enforce the ruling; thus, opening up land for white settlers and more slave labor.

With such a poor history, why is Jackson the face of the biggest fundraiser for the Tennessee Democratic Party (TNDP)?  

Rather than allowing unpleasant shadows of the past to affront Native Americans and African Americans, I wish the Party would consider renaming that day to something that more appropriately reflects the contemporary natures of our constituents and of our values.  Alternatively, it could be a name that honors previous TNDP leaders, without reference to a single specific individual.

 

Implementation of this suggestion would be regarded by some as controversial, as it places realism above adherence to heritage.  But as our Republican friends have long realized, there is little to be gained by emphasizing the name of a figurehead (in their case, President Abraham Lincoln), who conjures dismay amongst some of the party membership.

On Monday night, the TNDP Executive Committee will vote on whether to change the name of their annual fundraiser.  

TNDP State Party Chairwoman Mary Mancini recently sent an email to donors and the committee calling for a "conversation"  about whether Jackson "best exemplifies" who we are as a Party today.  On the State's blog, it cites an article in the Atlantic about Georgia, Connecticut and Missouri all changing their event names to get rid of the former slave holders.  From the article:

Yet the decisions by Connecticut, Missouri, and Georgia, and a parallel debate over Jackson’s place on the $20 bill, could herald a broader shift away from the Jefferson and Jackson legacies in the party and a search for other historical figures that better reflect the Democrats’ contemporary message of inclusiveness and racial harmony. Already, the state party in South Carolina plans to discuss re-naming its dinner in September, Chairman Jaime Harrison said in a statement. Iowa is talking about a change, a spokesman for the state party said. And even in Jackson’s home state of Tennessee, Mary Mancini, the Democratic Party chairwoman, said it’s time to talk about changing the name of the dinner named exclusively for the seventh president. An aide for the Democratic National Committee in Washington predicted that even more states could follow suit.

and

In Connecticut, the change occurred swiftly after the arrival this summer of a new Democratic chairman, Nick Balletto, who is closely aligned with the state chapter of the NAACP. The NAACP had previously helped to draw attention to buildings at Yale that were named after slave owners, along with the role that Aetna, the Hartford-based insurance giant, had played insuring the slave industry. When South Carolina moved to remove the Confederate flag from its Capitol grounds weeks after the racially-motivated massacre of nine African Americans in a Charleston church, the debate in Connecticut “resurfaced,” said Scot X. Esdaile, president of the state NAACP.

“If the Republican Party is going to be challenged on the Confederate flag, then the Democratic Party needs to be challenged on their issues, too,” Esdaile said in a phone interview, noting that while the NAACP has recently been much more closely allied with Democrats, it is a nonpartisan organization. “If you really delve into the history of the Democratic Party, they have a really cloudy and bloody past.”

Chattanooga and Southeast Tennessee's only Democratic State Representative Joanne Favors spoke to the the Chattanooga Times Free Press in favor of the removal of Andrew Jackson's.  She stated:

"There are quite a few of us who are not comfortable with that," she said.  "He supported slavery.  The Native Americans, the things he did to them were just as bad, almost as bad as the treatment of black slaves" "If we are going to name it (annual fundraiser) for an individual, it should be someone more contemporary and someone whose values are more consistent" with Democrats today.  

Favors added: "We (blacks) were not Democrats during his time"

Hear! Hear!

A couple of years ago, I read an inspiring article about a Cherokee foundation in North Carolina that is well funded from profits generated by Harrah’s Casino in Cherokee, North Carolina.   The monies are used to promote the Cherokee heritage, improve the local economy, and protect their beautiful environment.    

This group, the Eastern Band of Cherokees, helps their youth by offering them a pre-paid college education to the school of their choice; thus, promising a bright future for the next generation.  Education opens the door to leadership roles in communities and governments. It breaks the cycle of poverty and helplessness.  

The Director, Ms. Annette Clapsaddle, graduated from Yale University and received her Master’s Degree from the College of William and Mary.  From the Asheville Citizen-Times:

“She took advantage of the tribe’s willingness to pay the way for any enrolled member who wants a college degree. As a result, the Qualla Boundary probably boasts more Ivy League graduates per capita than any other community in the region.”  

The article continued with:

Away at college, she was active in a Native American student association, but she did have an opportunity to see how the outside world still often views Indians. She still winces at an administrator who insisted on meeting with Native American students in an office with a huge oil portrait of U.S. President Andrew Jackson. Cherokees, of course, recall Jackson as the man who defied a Supreme Court ruling and forced the tribe off their lands in the infamous Trail of Tears. “I continued to be floored. These were some of the smartest people in the world and they didn’t understand that Native Americans are still here.”

Because of these first-hand stories and President Jackson's poor past history, I, Sandra Lusk, from the 11th District of the Great State of Tennessee, will be voting to remove Andrew Jackson's name from the Tennessee Democratic Party's main fundraiser.  

Sincerely,

Sandy Lusk (aka Sandy on Signal at the Daily Kos)