The Apostle
Andrew was always a favorite of mine. But I have not been fond (to say the
least) of the two U.S. Presidents named Andrew. This blog post is about the
first of those two, Andrew Jackson, who was the seventh POTUS and in office from
1829 to 1837.
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| Statue of Andrew Jackson in front of the Jackson County Courthouse in Kansas City, Mo. The statue was sculpted by Charles Keck and placed here in 1934. |
Honoring Andrew Jackson
Before
becoming President, Jackson was a noted military man. His
victory in 1815 against the British at the Battle of New Orleans made him a national hero. Jackson then led U.S. forces in
the First Seminole War, which led to the annexation
of Florida from Spain in 1819.
On
December 15, 1826, almost two years before Jackson was elected POTUS, a new
county in the rather new state of Missouri was established and named after
General Jackson. It is now home to three of the six largest cities in Missouri:
Kansas City, Independence, and Lee’s Summit.
Jackson County,
Mo., is one of 24 counties (including Jackson Parish, La.) in the U.S.
named after Jackson. There are also numerous cities, towns, and villages named Jacksonville or Jackson. Jacksonville, Florida, was so named in 1822 in commemoration of
Jackson who was the first military governor of Florida Territory.
If you
are a white American, and especially one who believes in white supremacy as DJT
seemingly does, honoring Jackson probably seems good and reasonable to you.
DJT
tweeted on June 30, “This [fight for
preserving the statues] is a battle to save the Heritage, History, and
Greatness of our Country!” And as you probably know, he has a portrait of
Jackson on the wall near his desk in the Oval Office.
There is much heritage, history, and greatness linked to
Jackson, no doubt—as well as to Robert E. Lee.
But how many Black Americans have you heard wanting to save
the heritage, history, and greatness of the country by honoring/protecting the
statues/monuments of Lee?
And how many Native Americans have you heard wanting to
save the heritage, history, and greatness of the country by honoring/protecting
the statues/monuments of Jackson?
Things look different when seen through eyes other than
those of people who have always enjoyed the many, often unrecognized, benefits
of white privilege.
Dis-honoring Andrew Jackson
Twice
recently I have written in opposition to the “lynching” of statues or
monuments, that is, toppling or destroying them by violent, illegal means. But
I am a strong advocate of removing such statues or monuments by legislative
bodies.
The word dishonor
means “bring shame or disgrace on,” and that is not
particularly what I am advocating. As someone said to me recently, if we were
living at the same time and in the same region (as Jackson, or whomever we see
as a problem in the past), we likely would have done, or supported, the same
thing we find objectionable today. Quite probably so.
What I am advocating is that we dis-honor such people, that
is, remove the statues or monuments of those whom we no longer wish to honor.
Clearly, having a statue or monument of someone standing in a
public place, or having a city or county named after a person of the past,
honors that person.
Jackson County, Mo., obviously took its name in 1826 because
of the desire of the decision-makers who wished to honor Andrew Jackson as a
military hero. I seriously doubt that there would have been any single person
of the Seminole Nation who would have agreed with that honoring.
And after Jackson’s Indian Removal Act of 1830, I can’t
imagine there were any Native Americans who thought Jackson deserved the honor
bestowed on him.
There are Native Americans who live in Jackson County right
now. In honor of both their citizenship and ethnicity, I urge Jackson County
officials to remove Jackson’s recently defaced statue (which is now under a
tarp, as you see below) from its current location and to begin the process of
changing the name of the county.
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