The Trump administration has shelved the decade-long effort to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill— while simultaneously pushing to putTrump’s face on a brand-new $250 bill.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed Monday (July 6) that the Trump administration is “not at present” planning to move forward with placing Tubman’s likeness on the $20, according to Spectrum News. Bessent did not elaborate.

Tubman would have been the first Black American — and the first woman in more than a century — on the face of U.S. paper currency. The plan originated under President Barack Obama in 2016, when then-Treasury Secretary Jack Lew announced that Tubman would replace Andrew Jackson on the front of the $20 bill, originally set to enter circulation in 2020 to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment.

Trump blocked the plan during his first term, calling it “pure political correctness” and suggesting Tubman be placed on the $2 bill instead.

When President Biden took office in 2021, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the administration was “taking steps to resume efforts” and exploring ways to “speed up the process.” Former Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen later estimated the bill would be ready by 2030, citing the need for sophisticated anti-counterfeiting technology.

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A Theology For Reparations

In May 2025, during a tense exchange with Rep. Joyce Beatty, a Black Democrat from Ohio, Bessent was asked for an update on the Tubman bill’s status. His response: “I can’t, my staff will get back to you.”

The contrast between the administration’s handling of the Tubman redesign and its support for a proposed $250 bill featuring Trump drew immediate criticism.

Pressed on the discrepancy, Bessent told Spectrum News: “The 250 requires an act of Congress, because you can’t have a living person on U.S. currency.”

He added: “For us to change an existing bill, whether it’s $1 through $100, takes many years in advance.” No new person has been added to U.S. paper currency since 1928.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat from New Hampshire who has been introducing legislation to put Tubman on the $20 since 2015, said she was “extremely disappointed” by Bessent’s announcement.

“Commemorating Harriet Tubman would have been the perfect way to honor the women who helped build this country and bravely stood up for freedom and equality throughout our nation’s remarkable 250-year history,” Shaheen said in a statement. “Though Secretary Bessent may be more interested in illegally plastering Donald Trump’s image on a $250 bill, putting a woman on a U.S. bill remains long overdue, and I will keep focusing on finding a path to honor Harriet Tubman’s patriotism and sacrifice.”

Tubman was born into slavery in the early 1820s and went on to conduct 13 missions on the Underground Railroad, helping approximately 70 people escape to freedom. She later served as a Union spy and nurse during the Civil War.

The $20 bill currently features Andrew Jackson, the seventh U.S. president and a slaveholder who signed the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which forcibly displaced tens of thousands of Native Americans.

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The post Trump Administration shelves Harriet Tubman $20 bill plan appeared first on Atlanta Daily World.

Based on reporting by Atlanta Daily World.

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By Rev. Dr. Heber Brown III

I often look to our Ancestors to guide my service to the Black community today. They connect me to the movement that has been and is ongoing. Recently, I have been reflecting on two such inspiring Ancestors: Malcolm X and Queen Mother Audley Moore.

These two leaders at the vanguard of Pan-Africanism and the reparations movement understood the importance of securing land to build power. As Malcolm X said, “Revolution is based on land. Land is the basis of all independence. Land is the basis of freedom, justice and equality.” Queen Mother Moore, in a 1975 speech, declared, “We believe African captives in the USA will not have freedom until they have land of their own.”

Through their wisdom and the examples of so many others, we see how Black-owned land is a source of cultural memory and spiritual grounding. When we hold land, we find freedom.

I learned this firsthand through my great-grandparents’ lives “down the country” in rural Virginia. That land was a respite of sorts from the ravages of racial capitalism found in the city. It was an oasis amid a society that burdens Black people in so many ways. The whole family benefited from having significant landholdings to care for themselves. There was pride in self-sufficiency.

Economic sovereignty joins these attributes that land gives us. Since Black people have lost land — due to racial violence, the discriminatory impact of “heirs’ property” and exclusion from banking and farm programs — our overall wealth has decreased. According to the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, Black people owned 16 to 19 million acres of rural land in 1910, compared to less than 3 million acres today.

This is partly why I founded The Black Church Food Security Network. Pairing Black farmers with churches who own land ties together food justice, community and freedom. While food pantries and food drives are necessary efforts to fulfill an immediate need for those who experience food insecurity, they are not enough. Securing land, infrastructure and the means of production is the key to overcoming food apartheid in our communities. It must also be a primary component of reparations.

African leaders, led by President John Dramani Mahama of Ghana, recently coordinated a United Nations resolution that finally declared that the trafficking of enslaved Africans was the “gravest crime against humanity,” urging the need for reparations as the next step. There is no peace in the world, leaders said, without healing and reparative justice for Africans across the diaspora.

This closely echoes the words of Brother Malcolm; he said our redress should be seen as a violation of human rights, and now the global record acknowledges it as such.

Though further support and action is still required, the UN resolution marks an important step towards the goals of our Ancestors. Queen Mother Moore long advocated for “the long overdue debt of forty acres and two mules, repay in land.” Malcolm X similarly strongly advocated for reparations for land for Black Americans, as the U.S. government has shown is possible.

Both of these leaders sought to bring the issues of land and justice in front of the UN. Now that those issues are there, we hold the hope of progress.

As Queen Mother Moore asserted, our spirits were never removed from Africa. We are still connected to that land and heritage. We have achieved much, but reparations — through land and other means — are required to be truly free from exploitation.

All roads lead back to land ownership. Colonizers erroneously see land as a portal to access resources, from precious minerals, to oil, timber and even people. For the rest of us, land signals security and communal self-reliance.

So, farmers, churches and communities continue working hand-in-hand. This is the unfinished work of our Ancestors. It is up to us to continue their legacy of liberation through collective land ownership.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the writer and not necessarily those of the AFRO.

The post The basis of freedom: Reclaiming land as an act of liberation appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.

Based on reporting by Afro-American – Washington.

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A day after a 10-year-old boy was arrested for allegedly shooting and killing an infant girl in the city’s Baden neighborhood, juvenile authorities filed a petition alleging first-degree murder.

The case raises questions about how Missouri’s legal system handles very young children accused of its most serious crimes.

It also comes as Missouri’s juvenile justice system continues to confront longstanding racial disparities affecting Black children. According to the Missouri Department of Public Safety’s 2023 Racial and Ethnic Disparities Action Plan, Black youth are referred to juvenile offices at a rate 2.32 times higher than White youth, are less likely to have their cases diverted from the formal court process and are certified to stand trial as adults at significantly higher rates. Reducing those disparities is one of the system’s stated priorities.

Dr. Kenya Brumfield-Young, a criminal justice associate professor at Saint Louis University, noted how quickly the 10-year-old was charged before a thorough psychological examination was conducted.

“In Missouri, first-degree murder requires that a person knowingly caused the death of another person after deliberation,” Brumfield-Young explained, adding, “with a 10-year-old, the question of intent is much deeper.

“A child may understand that something is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ in a basic way and may even understand that death means someone is not coming back,” she continued. “But that is not the same as understanding the totality of the circumstances, the long-term consequences of the act, or the meaning of being processed through court on a homicide allegation.”

According to court documents, the 10-year-old shot 7-month-old Kiyomi Parker in the head June 26 inside a home in the 8400 block of North Broadway. She later died at a hospital. A 7-year-old also was inside the home.

The infant’s father, Ca’Marion Pawnell, 19, of East St. Louis, is charged with second-degree felony murder, first-degree child endangerment resulting in death and two additional child endangerment counts.

According to the probable cause statement, the handgun had been stored beneath a mattress. The 10-year-old told investigators he knew where it was and had handled it before the shooting. Pawnell admitted the gun belonged to him and that he stored it beneath the mattress.

Under Missouri law, children generally must be at least 12 before a judge can consider transferring them to adult court on serious felony charges. Because the boy in this case is 10, he would likely face the first-degree murder allegation in juvenile court.

That approach reflects Missouri’s juvenile justice philosophy. The St. Louis Family Court says its system emphasizes accountability alongside rehabilitation, family engagement and repairing harm rather than punishment alone. Court officials also acknowledge racial and ethnic disparities as an ongoing challenge and say reducing those disparities remains a priority.

In April, lawmakers passed and Gov. Mike Kehoe signed Senate Bill 888, a wide-ranging criminal justice measure that critics say makes it easier to try some juveniles as adults.

The new law allows prosecutors to seek hearings to transfer older juveniles to adult court, an option critics say gives prosecutors greater influence over those decisions.

House Democrats say that because prosecutors are elected officials, the law could politicize criminal cases and lead to more minors being tried as adults.

“Sometimes prosecutors, they get power hungry,” said Rep. David Tyson-Smith, D-Columbia. “They get in office and they want convictions,” Tyson-Smith said, adding that prosecutors are supposed to “seek justice, not convictions” of minors.

Rep. Michael Johnson, a Kansas City Democrat and chair of the Missouri Legislative Black Caucus, denounced the legislation.

“Public safety and accountability must always be priorities, but we cannot ignore the long-term consequences of policies that criminalize our youth instead of investing in their potential,” Johnson wrote.

In defense of the bill, Rep. Brad Christ, R-St. Louis County, described some juveniles as “very hardened criminals” who have taken advantage of what he called the state’s “catch-and-release process” for minors.

Brumfield-Young unequivocally does not support charging juveniles as adults.

“That does not mean there should be no accountability, and it does not minimize the seriousness of the harm,” she said. “It means that accountability for children and adolescents should happen in a system designed around the cognitive, emotional and social development of young people.

“This is especially important when we are talking about a 10-year-old. A child that young is still very early in the developmental process, including the development of the capacities we expect adults to use when making serious decisions.”

Skyla Pawnell, who identified herself as Ca’Marion Pawnell’s cousin on Facebook, has started a Change.org petition asking “the legal system to exercise compassion and justice” for her cousin. The petition acknowledges that “leaving a loaded firearm accessible was certainly a mistake,” but argues the legal system has placed “the full weight” of the tragedy on Pawnell while overlooking what it describes as the “complex circumstances” surrounding the shooting.

Brumfield-Young argues that “juveniles are not monoliths” and although a 10-year-old child and a 17-year-old adolescent “are developmentally different,” neither should be treated “as though they are adults.”

“For example, California’s youth offender parole framework applies to many people who were under 26 when they committed their offense, and Vermont’s youthful offender law reaches some young people who are under 22,” Brumfield-Young said. “Those laws do not erase accountability. They reflect the reality that there is a developmental difference between a teenager or an emerging adult and a fully mature adult.”

She also believes the criminal justice system isn’t equipped to punish older teens as adults.

This type of prosecution, she believes, exposes young people to systems and consequences that “often make rehabilitation harder” and can lead to educational disruption, reduced access to age-appropriate treatment and lifelong collateral consequences.

“I really believe that we can hold children and adolescents accountable without treating them as adults,” Brumfield-Young said.

“In a case this tragic, we can grieve the death of the infant, support the family, take seriously the child’s behavior and mental health needs, and still recognize that a 10-year-old is not legally, developmentally or neurologically the same as an adult.”

Sylvester Brown Jr. is the Deaconess Foundation Community Advocacy Fellow.

The post Justice and childhood appeared first on St. Louis American.

Based on reporting by St. Louis American.

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