Democrats' dinner to shed Jefferson, Jackson

The state Democratic Party announced Thursday that it will change the name of its annual Jefferson Jackson Dinner, saying it wants a title that is more reflective of today's statewide political body.

The party in Arkansas will select a designation "that better reflects our values as Democrats," spokesman H.L. Moody said Thursday.

Arkansas launched its Jefferson Jackson Dinner 34 years ago, adopting a name that had already been embraced by party activists across the country.

But the two Southern plantation owners, Thomas Jefferson of Virginia and Andrew Jackson of Tennessee, aren't appropriate symbols of today's Democratic Party, Moody said.

"They were both great presidents and they both did amazing things for the union and we certainly don't want to take away from that, but there is also that troublesome slavery thing. And then with Jackson, it was how he treated the Native Americans, so obviously there are a lot of reasons we want to get away from that," Moody said.

It's the latest party organization to de-emphasize the nation's third and seventh presidents. Iowa Democratic Party officials say they will rename their Jefferson Jackson Dinner as early as next month. Several other county and state Democratic organizations have already jettisoned the name in their locales.

Frequently referred to as the "JJ Dinner," the Arkansas event is the state party's biggest fundraiser. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke at last year's event, drawing 2,000 people and raising a half-million dollars.

This year's event will take place July 15 and, like last year, will be held in Verizon Arena in North Little Rock.

A 10-member committee headed by former party Chairman Ron Oliver will come up with a new name in time for next year's fundraiser.

"The name Jefferson Jackson served us well for a lot of years, but times change and the party has modernized and we think we need to modernize the name of our annual dinner, too," Moody said.

Arkansas Democrats hope to "find something that everybody could be happy with and that everyone agreed reflects our values as Democrats," he said.

The name-change committee is still being assembled and will have not only "diversity of race and gender and all that business but also diversity of location, of geography," Moody said. "We want people from all over the state to have input on this."

Hawkeye State Democrats established a similar committee and invited people to share their ideas. "I think hundreds of suggestions were made," Iowa party spokesman Monica Biddix said.

Other states dropping the name include Connecticut, Missouri, Georgia and Indiana, according to media reports.

County Democratic organizations Pennsylvania and Virginia have taken similar steps. A Maryland county is currently weighing a change.

In 2014, the party organization in Dallas County, Texas, dumped Jefferson and Jackson. The annual JJ Dinner now is a nod to two Texas Democrats -- former President Lyndon Johnson and former U.S. Rep. Barbara Jordan.

Gary Rose, a political science professor at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn., said the Democratic Party "has clearly moved more to the left over the years" and its members are now "purging their party" of some key historical figures.

"The founders and some of the real symbols of the party ... are now, at least in the minds of some of these people, becoming far less relevant, which is really quite an extraordinary development," Rose said.

Metro on 05/27/2016

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