Researchers have found that the only living former president who is not a direct descendent of slaveholders is former President Donald J. Trump and that even the sainted Barack Obama’s relatives once owned slaves, current President Joe Biden also descended from slave owners.
In an examination of the history of America’s political elite conducted by Reuters, it was found that five living ex-presidents and over 100 members of Congress descended from slave owners, including race-baiting Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), two Supreme Court justices and eleven governors.
The results of the research were reported by the outlet on Tuesday, a week after the celebration of the new federal holiday of Juneteenth, and are an inconvenient intrusion upon the narrative of Democrats who have consistently presented themselves as the saviors of black people while smearing Trump as a racist and white supremacist.
In addition to Obama and Biden, former Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush all had relatives who cracked the whip on black folks. Trump’s family emigrated to the United States after slavery was abolished.
In a first-of-its-kind examination, @Reuters reveals more than 100 U.S. political leaders have ancestors who were slaveholders and explores what those connections to slavery mean to presidents, governors, lawmakers, Supreme Court justices – and to America https://t.co/5pgnMXXpqg
— Reuters Press Team (@ReutersPR) June 27, 2023
Reuters sought the assistance of the Record Linking Lab at Brigham Young University to compile the data that it says were provided to those who it determined had a family tree that included slave owners and that they were given a chance to comment.
“In notifying political elites of their family ties to slaveholding, we identified which of their ancestors enslaved people, how many people that ancestor enslaved, and how many generations removed that ancestor is from them,” Reuters states. “We also sought comment from each public official to understand how learning about their family connection to slavery might affect them personally, and whether that knowledge might inform their views on policy matters.”
Both Biden and Obama, who have exploited racial division for political gain, declined to provide comments to Reuters. Former President Bill Clinton also did not provide his comments on the findings.
The one living former Republican president, George W. Bush, responded via his chief of staff in a statement to Reuters. “Thanks for your important research in helping bring this to light. As President Bush said at the dedication of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, ‘A great Nation does not hide its history; it faces its flaws and corrects them.’ We can’t move closer to our founding promise of equal opportunity without remembering the founding sin of slavery. That disturbing past inspires us to go farther and faster on the journey toward a better future of liberty and justice for all.”
Another Democrat on the list, former President Jimmy Carter is currently in hospice care and is too ill to provide his feedback.
“At this point I am afraid we have to decline an interview as the family is focusing on President Carter’s health during his hospice care. As you likely know, President Carter has been a champion of racial justice since his time as Governor of Georgia and he has written extensively on how he first understood race and how it impacted him, his life, and his political life,” a spokesperson for Carter said in a statement to Reuters.
In addition to Sen. Warren, other lawmakers who made the list include Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Angus King (I-Maine) as well as dozens of members of the House of Representatives.
Supreme Court Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch had ancestors who were slaveholders while the newest SCOTUS member, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson descended from slaves, according to a recent Washington Post report.
“Reuters only considered evidence of slaveholding that occurred after the founding of the United States. Journalists also limited their research to direct lineal ancestors of the present-day elite rather than building sprawling family trees that included distant cousins,” the outlet noted.
The results of the ancestry study are available in a searchable format.
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