It was one of the first moments in the Washington spotlight for junior congressman Mike Johnson. In 2019, the Republican from Louisiana was the ranking member of a U.S. House subcommittee discussing the controversial subject of slavery reparations. The lawmaker and his wife, who are white, “took custody of Michael and made him part of our family 22 years ago when we were just newlyweds, and Michael was just 14 and out on the streets and nowhere to go and on a very dangerous path.”
I don’t understand this mentality. Is it OK to have pride in one’s ancestors and their accomplishments? Why does pride get passed down while shame washes away?
People who say their ancestors didn’t immigrate until after slavery and therefore are innocent should sit the fuck down when the national anthem is played because your people weren’t here for the war of 1812 either.
You take pride in your great great great great great grandfather…? Cringy flex but whatever.
Okay, let’s say you do. Why should any of his accomplishments 200 years ago matter in how I judge you?
Speaker Johnson is a little weasel rat fucking religious zealot. Trying to shame him for something so far removed is dumb, bad politics, and worse, terrible journalism.
As for your rant about immigration arrival dates, national anthem, and the war of 1812… are you well…?
I love how for your argument to work you have to ignore all of history since then and the fact that the disparity created by those slave owners doesn’t only still exist today, but is still actively perpetuated and maintained by some of those same people who now have power to make laws or at least enough wealth to influence those who do, because of and under the influence of the wealth, privilege, and systemic racism they inherited directly from those ancestors.
Pathetic deliberately ignorant racist.
One of my ancestors was Lord High Chancellor of England. It doesn’t make me proud; that would be silly.