Some rich Hollywood actors apparently have so much money, they can scribble on it like children.
West Wing’s Joshua Malina decided on August 31 that one of the best ways to #resist is to write “Harriet Tubman” across every $20 bill. In a tweet to his followers, he shared a picture of his latest artistic work.
Followers immediately responded with their own pictures of defaced $20 bills, with “Harriet Tubman” scribbled in permanent marker across the currency. While Malina’s own handiwork isn’t enough to count as defacement of the bill, the sharpie-ing of some of the bills is enough to fall under defacement. Some eager person just might go too far in trying to #resist.
According to U.S. law, “Defacement of currency is a violation of Title 18, Section 333 of the United States Code. Under this provision, currency defacement is generally defined as follows: Whoever mutilates, cuts, disfigures, perforates, unites or cements together, or does any other thing to any bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt issued by any national banking association,” is guilty of breaking a law.
While the movement to replace Andrew Jackson’s image with Harriet Tubman is a popular one, and one that was considered by the Obama administration, there are other ways of asking the present administration to reconsider its decision to leave the bill as is.
Not everyone is worth 1.5 million in net value, like Malina is. People shouldn’t have to #resist themselves into poverty.
Stay legal, folks.
