NBC: Mitch McConnell opposes reparations, but his great-great grandfathers owned 14 slaves

[Plasmaball]

I dont agree with reparations either.

[Axxowiz]

Have you seen the polls of the percentage that oppose reparations? It goes way past Mitch McDonnell.

[conan]

Take the money from New England aristocratic for reparations.

[Ex-Pat]

I imagine descendants of slave owners would have lower support for reparations than most of the population. They don’t want to give up what they were born into.

BTW, I too am a descendant of slave owners. I personally don’t feel responsible for my ancestors’ actions, but I don’t deny white privilege or any other privileges.

[altair1013]

@Axxowiz

Have you seen the polls of the percentage that oppose reparations? It goes way past Mitch McDonnell.

Last election, the dems promoted a candidate that nobody wanted. This time they are promoting an agenda that nobody wants. The results will be the same.

[LucyLou]

None of us have any control over what our ancestors did.

Stories like this are not helpful or relevant.

[altair1013]

@LucyLou

None of us have any control over what our ancestors did.

Stories like this are not helpful or relevant.

I think the dems would have a better shot at defeating Trump if they highlighted issues that people actually find important.

[Excast]

Mitch McConnell is not responsible for the actions of his ancestors. However, he is responsible for choosing how to responding to the systemic inequality caused by hundreds of years of black Americans being treated like second class citizens. As are the rest of us.

[Mountain_Soldier]

But it’s a republican!

[Mountain_Soldier]

@madasheck

NBC reported today that Mitch McConnell, who is an opponent of reparations, is the descendant of two slave owners who between them owned 14 slaves in Alabama. The two men – James McConnell and Richard Daley owned a total of at least 14 slaves in Limestone County, Alabama, all but two of them female, according to the county “Slave Schedules” in the 1850 and 1860 censuses. McConnell did not answer NBC’s request for comments to the discovery.

From the story:

Slavery experts have stressed that descendants of slave owners should not be held personally responsible for the deeds of their forebears. But they have also argued that the families that descended from slave owners, like McConnell’s, are likely to have benefited from the labor of slaves that propped up farm families in earlier generations — a point made by many reparations supporters, who have said that descendants of slaves were never compensated for the economic benefit their forebears made to white families.

Be interesting to see where this goes.

Sen. Mitch McConnell's great-great-grandfathers owned 14 slaves, bringing reparations issue close to home

Will you be checking the ancestry of every democrat in the senate as well?

[Mountain_Soldier]

Never mind NBC doesn’t dig up dirt on democrats. Neither does CBS.

[DougBH]

How many slaves did Mitch McConnell own? He is responsible for his own actions and owes restitution to each and every slave he owned.

[WuWei]

@Mountain_Soldier

Will you be checking the ancestry of every democrat in the senate as well?

He’d better mind his own.

[LucyLou]

Sorry, but reparations as an issue needs to go away. I am entirely against it. I’ll even say it’s ridiculous.

[Axxowiz]

Travel to the western parts of West Virginia and do some door to door interviews with the residents and talk with them about their white privilege A state with $23,500 per capita income, they might have a different opinion about their privilege.

[Dissident_Aggressor]

The time for reparations was immediately after the slaves were freed. To say it’s way too late for it now is an understatement.

[PurpnGold]

Well isn’t this quite the plot twist

I love this conversation about reparations. I hope it reaches levels never before seen. Been kicking this can down the road for 150+ years.

[PurpnGold]

@Dissident_Aggressor

The time for reparations was immediately after the slaves were freed. To say it’s way too late for it now is an understatement.

I find it hilarious that this argument is used for paying reparations but not for building the wall. “We should have built the wall the minute the first immigrant cross our border illegally.”

We also don’t use this argument for many other things that we delay doing.

[Dissident_Aggressor]

@PurpnGold

I find it hilarious that this argument is used for paying reparations but not for building the wall. “We should have built the wall the minute the first immigrant cross our border illegally.”

We also don’t use this argument for many other things that we delay doing.

Well, I’m not in favor of the wall, but I don’t see how those two things are analogous.

[Excast]

@LucyLou

Sorry, but reparations as an issue needs to go away. I am entirely against it. I’ll even say it’s ridiculous.

I get that it’s never going to be the most politically popular topic, but the reality is that minorities in this country were put at a historic disadvantage because of both hundreds of years of slavery and well over a hundred years of mistreatment that came afterwards. White America can choose to ignore it or we can make an attempt to acknowledge what took place and take steps towards rectifying a stain on our collective past.