The New York mayor, or the person who runs his Twitter account, is a sucker for inspirational quote cards. On Wednesday, after the Treasury Department announced Tubman would replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill, de Blasio tweeted that Tubman “says it best.” Here’s what Tubman supposedly said best: “Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” There are even insipid twinkling stars in the image.
Harriet Tubman did not say this weak inspirational garbage. Tubman’s biographer dates this fake quote to about 2007. But even without Googling the quote, it’s obviously fake—it’s like imagining Tubman saying “be all that you can be!” Juxtaposed next to the unsmiling face of Tubman in her later years, the quote is hilarious. All that little Harriet had to do was dream big, and she escaped slavery!!! Just think what dreaming big could do to melt off those last five pounds.
De Blasio deleted the tweet about half an hour later, and said, “Right idea, wrong attribution on my Tubman tweet. She didn’t actually say that, but still - incredible progress.”