What's this all about?

In 2016 the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced they're putting Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill - releasing the design in 2020 and the actual money in 2030.

 

Andrew Jackson will move to the back of the bill, which is probably why 45 has temporarily scuttled the plan.

But we're dumping him soon, right? VOTE 2020 

 

Putting Harriet Tubman on our currency is a step in the right direction... and surely she would have some strong opinions about how America runs its money. Cosmetic change is not enough and that's why we made this video.

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(At the time of our film shoot, the Treasury was considering Tubman for the $10 bill, which is why this background photo shows the wrong stacks. Thankfully, Lin-Manuel Miranda made Alexander Hamilton a household name again and influenced the Treasury's decision.)

 

Lyrics Questions:

 

Why is Moses mentioned?

Moses was one of Harriet Tubman's nicknames, because she was leading slaves to freedom. 

 

What does Jordan mean?

"The River Jordan" was code for the Ohio River. If slaves made it across that river, they were free.

 

What's a "snap"?

SNAP is food stamps. In New York they're called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

 

Which flag is the song talking about?

The Confederate flag removed from South Carolina's capitol in 2015.

 

What does North Star mean?

Slaves traveling at night for safety used the North Star, Polaris, to show them which way to go. The North Star never moves across the sky so it's reliable. (The Star Trails photo in the video shows the paths of other stars as Polaris holds firm.)

 

Illionaires?

Not all millionaires are asleep at the wheel. This word is specific.

 

What does Atlas mean?

Here it's a reference to Atlas Shrugged, a book by Ayn Rand. Selfish people use the book as an excuse to keep being selfish.

 

Does Alpha mean "alpha dog"?

In the financial industry the term "alpha," for individual investors, meant turning a big, fast profit. These individuals felt like experts but weren't. They had wide-eyed confidence based on ignorance of how the industry actually works. That's the real meaning of alpha. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs and other corporations were conning them, and us, into the Great Recession. (The newest term that means confidence based on ignorance is "smart beta.") Watch the movie The Big Short and read the book by Michael Lewis.

 

What is the U.R.?

The Underground Railroad: safe places to stay and routes to use for escaping slaves.

 

Is that statistic true, 85 people have as much wealth as 50% of the world?

Now it's 26 people, according to Oxfam and Credit Suisse. 

Here's an in-depth article about it:

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/1/22/18192774/oxfam-inequality-report-2019-davos-wealth

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What is that drawing of a man in a box?

Henry Box Brown was a slave whose owner sold his wife and children to another slave owner. Brown then escaped by mailing himself in a box from Virginia to Philadelphia. He was in the box for 27 hours.

 

Who is the white man with the glasses?

That's Alan Greenspan, Chairman of the Federal Reserve for 19 years. He was supposed to regulate the financial industry but as a close friend of Ayn Rand, he opposed regulations. Regulations are like crossing guards who keep children safe as they walk to school. He basically fired the crossing guards and was a major cause of the Great Recession. Read the chapter about him in Griftopia, by Matt Taibbi. (Read the rest of the book, too. It's scarier than a Stephen King.)

 

What's that photo with soldiers approaching the young woman near a car?

In 1957 U.S. Army soldiers ensured the safety of several teenagers trying to go to school in Little Rock, Arkansas. The state didn't want black and white children to attend school together, so the federal government had to make it happen. (The soldiers were in the 101st Airborne Division. Clare, the director of the video, has a personal connection there - her dad, Charles Kenon Gailey III, became a proud member of that Division a couple decades later.)  

 

I can't google the last woman in the sequence of Black leaders. Who is she?

That's one of the grandmothers of Cheryl Mwaria, who plays the first Harriet Tubman to appear in the video. Ann Gallimore (Cheryl's mother's mother) was born in 1861 in Virginia. She was descended from Elizabeth Gallimore, a white woman born around 1720. Elizabeth, on May 25, 1759, was brought to court for "illegally co-habitating with a Negro." Her mixed race children were free.

 

General Questions:

 

How did this project get started?

When Clare heard that Harriet Tubman might be on the ten dollar bill, the lyrics popped right out ... after years of thinking about our economic system. 

 

Clare's reading material at the time she wrote the lyrics was pretty interesting, too: she had just finished Yes Please by Amy Poehler and was reading Theories of International Politics and Zombies by Daniel W. Drezner and the first Lyndon Johnson bio, The Path to Power, by Robert Caro. Lyndon Johnson was a bleepity bleep yet he made it to the top notch in the nation - which keeps happening, doesn't it. (Change this deliberately broken system. Vote in every election.)

 

Who are the singers?

Ria and Clare have been friends since college and since they were roommates for years, Clare already knew about Ria's amazing pipes. Ria sings every Sunday at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. Clare heard about Kalae through their mutual friend Isobel, and her jaw dropped when she saw Kalae's videos on YouTube. Clare's aunt, Christine Gailey, put her in touch with Cheryl, an anthropology professor. Six months after they started rehearsals, Cheryl casually mentioned that she had been one of the first two female Black Panthers in New York City!

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