Tennessee Democratic Party Chair Mary Mancini is calling for a “conversation” over whether the party should continue honoring one of the most important figures in their history — President Andrew Jackson.
Mancini issued the challenge in an email sent Tuesday to Democrats statewide. She noted that Jackson was a slave owner and an advocate for clearing Native Americans from their territory east of the Mississippi River.
But she added the nation’s seventh president is also seen as a fighter for the common man. That’s why Tennessee Democrats decided to name their big fundraiser the “Jackson Day Dinner” in his honor.
“It’s complicated. He was the father of our party. He was a Tennessean. He defined who we are as a party in terms of being the party of the people, and we need to continue to honor that legacy.”
Still, Democrats in Connecticut and Georgia have already dropped Jackson’s name from their annual dinners. Some have also called for taking Jackson off the $20 bill.
That debate would have spilled into Tennessee, eventually, says Mancini. She says it’d be better to start that debate now, before planning heats up for the next Jackson Day Dinner, this fall.
“The point in sending this email was to instigate a conversation. No decisions have been made and obviously I would not make that decision alone.”
The Tennessee Republican Party, for its part, isn’t likely to face such a debate any time soon.
Their big fundraiser is simply called the Statesmen’s Dinner.
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