Thread: Star Musk
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Unread 01-12-2022, 09:33 AM
Roger Slater Roger Slater is offline
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Cameron, in this particular case, black people don't seem to mind white people feeling good about Angelou's appearance on the quarter. In fact, they seem to be deluded into thinking it's a good thing. I haven't heard a single black leader or opinion columnist say what you've just said, nor have I seen an outcry on social media. Your suggestion that they should have chosen a couple of men (who, by the way, are still living and thus not traditionally eligible) instead of this particular woman ignores the desirability of adding to the scant handful of women on US currency in the past 200+ years, as well as the tradition in the US that you need to be dead to have your face become legal tender.

To suggest that it is tokenism to honor Angelou, a wildly popular and admired public figure for many years, regardless of what you think about her poety, is the kind of thing that gives wokeness a bad name. This is not a poetry prize, but a commemorations and recognition of a public figure who is loved and respected by millions, not just for her poetry but for her voice and her presence in American culture as a force for good and diversity. I myself am not a huge fan of her writing, but that's not the sole criterion I would go by in this context. Getting honored on a coin is not a poetry contest but something much larger, something which carries tons of symbolism as well. Just like Trump was acting symbolically when he vetoed the plan to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill (something Biden will probably revive before too long), the decision to put Angelou on a commemorative coin (or not to do so) is fraught with symbolism.
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