A statue of President Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Park in Washington, D.C. Photo: Ron Cogswell

Politics

Democrats drop Andrew Jackson from name of event in Arkansas

Thursday, May 25, 2017

It only took a few decades but the Arkansas Democratic Party has dropped Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson from the group's annual dinner, the Associated Press reports.

Arkansas Democrats are joining their counterparts in Iowa, Georgia, Missouri, Connecticut, South Carolina and other states in drawing focus away from Jefferson and Jackson. Both former presidents owned slaves a while Jackson's role in forcing the removal of Indian nations from their homelands has long been an issue.

Still, Jackson is revered and not just by Democrats. Republican President Donald Trump has repeatedly compared himself to America's 7th commander-in-chief and even visited his grave without once mentioning his genocidal legacy.

And while Jackson was the target of a successful campaign to remove his image from the $20 bill, he has survived scrutiny in places like New Orleans, Louisiana, where he is honored with a prominent statue. Other symbols of the city's racist past have been taken down in what Mayor Mitch Landrieu has described as a long-overdue process of reconciliation.

"There is a difference between remembrance of history and reverence of it," Landrieu said in a speech as the last of the four monuments came down on Friday, according to the prepared version of his remarks in which he acknowledged the city's indigenous roots.

Read More on the Story:
Arkansas Democrats’ dinner renamed to honor Bill Clinton (AP 5/24)
Mitch Landrieu's Confederate monuments speech earning praise (The New Orleans Times-Picayune 5/24)
New Orleans Mayor’s Message on Race (The New York Times 5/24)
From Lofty Perch, New Orleans Monument to Confederacy Comes Down (The New York Times 5/19)