Stamping The Future

Linn's Stamp News, the premier stamp collecting magazine in the United States, has reported that U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy (below) has made his first three appointments to the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee, the committee that receives, reviews, and recommends topics for U.S. stamp issues.  And the choices clearly indicate that the Postal Service's stamp program is likely to go in a very different direction.  At best, this means the the CSAC will be much less tolerant of stamps for stupid topics such as ice cream sundaes, blockbuster movies, and comic-book characters.  At worst, this could mean a surge of bigotry and narrow-mindedness in the stamp program.  

I say this because all of DeJoy's CSAC appointments are white males with Anglo-Saxon and Celtic names - that is, what Trump supporters call "real Americans."  One, Kevin Butterfield, is an historian who specializes in George Washington, and another, Roger Ream, is an educational executive who is a proponent of free-market values and limited government.  The third, Joseph Kelley, barely qualifies as a nod to diversity; he's a doctor who specializes in women's cancer. 

I have a feeling that when De Joy took over the Postal Service in the summer of 2020, he took a look at some of the stamps to be issued that were already approved - particularly the Hip Hop stamp issue - and said, "No more of that!"  (Full disclosure: I didn't like the Hip Hop stamp issue either, and I steadfastly refuse to include it my collection.)  But while this conservative bent to the CSAC means we'll likely see more stamps with Washington and Franklin on them, as well more stamps for statesmen, authors of classic novels, medical researchers, and landmark historical events - you know, serious stuff - it will likely mean fewer stamps for women and people of color, as well as fewer stamps for the contemporary fine and performing arts.  I'll come right out and say it - we're going to see a lot less diversity in stamp topics.  We'll see fewer stamps for modern artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat and more stamps for nineteenth-century landscape painters like George Inness.  We'll still get stamps for scientists, but fewer of the scientists honored will be immigrant women of color like physicist Chien-Shiung Wu,  who was honored by a U.S. commemorative stamp issued on February 11 of this year.  Stamps for popular musicians?  Only for the most middle-of-the-road performers, if even that.  Maybe the DeJoy CSAC will approve a stamp for, say, Karen Carpenter, and a good case can be made for Al Jarreau.  But a stamp for the Allman Brothers . . . yeah, that's not going to happen, and for a Tupac Shakur stamp, that goes double.

By the way, the press release from the Postal Service regarding these appointments does not mention DeJoy's role in them, which suggests that DeJoy is trying to court as little controversy as possible,  But these particular appointments - especially the appointee of Roger Ream - are bound to spark an outcry from women, people of color, and liberals if and when they suddenly find dead white European-American males on stamps  - for the record, no living people are allowed on U.S. stamps, though the rule gets broken sometimes - at the expense of, say, black female authors or Hispanic musicians. That means no more stamps for people like author Zora Neale Hurston or musician Tito Puente, two individuals who have been honored on U.S. stamps already. We'll see some sports figures on stamps, like Yogi Berra, who is being honored by the Postal Service later this year.  But a stamp for Muhammad Ali?  Not going to happen. We'll see a stamp for Republican football star Tom Brady first, and Brady is very much alive.

Perhaps I'm being unfair.  The 2021 U.S. stamp program is pretty much done already (why no stamp for Amtrak on its fiftieth anniversary?), so it probably won't be until the 2022 U.S. stamp program is announced at the end of this year, and that's when we'll see the influence of these new appointments manifest itself.  So let's give these honkies the benefit of the doubt.

Though, I will be happy to see fewer stamps honoring dessert food.