Brigid Daull Brockway is technically a writer

Brigid Daull Brockway is technically a writer

A blog about words, wordplay, and etymology, with slightly more than occasional political rants.

Thursday, April 21, 2016

What does the fox say?

Do you know the origin of the expression sour grapes? It was hot and Fox was hungry. Hanging from a vine high overhead was a cluster of the juiciest of grapes Fox had ever seen glistening in the afternoon sun. Fox stood on his hind legs and grasped for the grapes, but they were out of reach. Fox jumped, but the grapes again eluded him. Finally Fox trotted away then took a running leap, but fell just short. Fox gave up with his nose in the air, griping, "I'm sure they were sour anyway."
Today, those who do not reach the grapes they want might declare them the fruits of political correctness instead.
Folks who -definitely- aren't racist are super livid about the Treasury's decision to replace Andrew Jackson with Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill. It's just that they're sick of the culture of political correctness that drives these decisions. They don't realize that what they're really saying is that no woman, no African American in the 240 year history of our nation has ever done anything to be worthy to appear on money. 
When you claim that political correctness is the only way for a black woman to earn her way onto the $20 bill, you must also be saying that no woman, no person of color, has ever contributed enough to our nation to be recognized in this way.

By the way, Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act into law, forcing tens of thousands of Native Americans from their ancestral homelands along the Trail of Tears, on which ten thousand Native Americans died from exposure, disease, and hunger. Jackson owned over a hundred slaves and straight up murdered a dude for talking smack about Jackson's wife. Really, this guy is more worthy of being on money than Harriet Tubman? Really? 

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