President Joe Biden and every living former U.S. president, with the exception of former President Donald Trump, are descendants of slaveholders, a report by Reuters revealed Tuesday.
Former presidents Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama are reportedly direct descendants of slaveholders. Obama is reportedly a descendant of a slaveholder through his white mother’s side.
The report determined that Trump was not a decedent of slaveholders because his ancestors came to the United States after Americans abolished slavery.
Reuters reported:
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.
Among 536 members of the last sitting Congress, Reuters determined at least 100 descend from slaveholders. Of that group, more than a quarter of the Senate – 28 members – can trace their families to at least one slaveholder.
Those lawmakers from the 117th session of Congress are Democrats and Republicans alike. They include some of the most influential politicians in America: Republican senators Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, Tom Cotton and James Lankford, and Democrats Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Duckworth, Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan.
Over the course of Biden’s political career, he issued a number of dubious statements about race.
Joe Biden declared in 2020 that if black Americans are unsure whether to support him over Trump in the 2020 election, “then you ain’t black.”
If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.
In August 2019, Joe Biden suggested “white kids” are smarter than other kids:
We have this notion that somehow if you’re poor you cannot do it, poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids.
In 2007, Joe Biden described Obama as a “bright and clean” black person:
You got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that’s a storybook, man.
.@JoeBiden: "If you have a problem figuring out whether you're for me or Trump, then you ain't black." @cthagod: "It don't have nothing to do with Trump, it has to do with the fact — I want something for my community." @breakfastclubam pic.twitter.com/endvWnOIV2
— America Rising (@AmericaRising) May 22, 2020
Trump took pride in his achievements for black Americans during his presidency, saying “nobody” had done more.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
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