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.”
  • eestileib@sh.itjust.works
    11·
    11 months ago

    I think everybody whose family was in the US in that time period had ties to it; it was foundational to the entire economy. Labor in the south, trade goods in the North.

    • USAONE@lemmy.worldOP
      4·
      11 months ago

      My family came over on the Mayflower and we have zero ties to slavery. They fought in the 7th New York IR (Steuben Guard) in the Civil War from 1861-1865. So not everyone in the US has ties to slavery.

      • optissima
        2·
        11 months ago

        While your family may not have been slave holders during Civil War, slavery existed in NYC till 1827, which (after a quick search) seemed to be where the 7th was based. How certain are you that they didn’t hold slaves before 1800? I’m not saying there’s a strong equivalence, but to say your family had absolutely no ties in an area that had slavery for 200 years might be a little too confident?