A recent look into the genealogy of our 45 American presidents found that ALL but one were descended from slaveowners (or were themselves slaveowners, of course).
The new report by newswire service Reuters found that five living presidents, two Supreme Court Justices, eleven governors, and 100 legislators all had descendants who were slave owners.
That includes Joe Biden, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Jimmy Carter AND Barack Obama (on his mother’s side).
You know who didn’t have a slave-owning heritage?
Donald J. Trump.
Now, that right there is funny!
According to the report:
A chiseled block of sandstone in the U.S. Capitol’s visitor center serves as a reminder that the home of the nation’s Congress was built in part by enslaved Black people. A bronze plaque says the stone, originally part of the building’s exterior, “commemorates their important role in building the Capitol.”
Many lawmakers need look no further than their own family histories to find a much more personal connection to slavery in America, a brutal system of oppression that resulted in the deadliest conflict in U.S. history.
In researching the genealogies of America’s political elite, a Reuters examination found that a fifth of the nation’s congressmen, living presidents, Supreme Court justices and governors are direct descendants of ancestors who enslaved Black people.
The factoid isn’t exactly meaningful they way Reuters assumes it is, granted.
“Slave owning” really is not the issue at all with this long chain of people in power going back into American history and to the pre-Civil War days.
It’s the family wealth, connections, and position that is the real issue here.
These are more or less “legacy” positions these people have been awarded. We can’t seem to get past the same families taking power over and over again.
Slavery? Who cares?
It’s the incestuous power structure that’s the problem. Not “slavery,” something which ended as an American institution more than 150 years ago.
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