NBC was so desperate to smear Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as a racist, that they searched his family ancestry for slave owners to make some sort of “point” as to why he didn’t support reparations. If that makes no sense to you, you’re not alone.
In the article, NBC journalist Corky Siemaszko explained how he searched through U.S. census records and McConnell’s family tree through Ancestry.com and found two slaveowners in McConnell's distant family. NBC tied this finding directly to the Republican's opposition of paying reparations:
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who said recently he opposes paying government reparations to the descendants of American slaves, has a family history deeply entwined in the issue: Two of his great-great-grandfathers were slave owners, U.S. census records show.
The two great-great-grandfathers, 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.
The details about McConnell’s ancestors, discovered by NBC News through a search of ancestry and census records, came in the wake of recent hearings on reparations before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.
If all that wasn’t bad enough, Siemaszko went into McConnell’s voting record to try to spin McConnell as a racist for supporting voter ID laws.
NBC must’ve been really proud of this scoop because they tweeted the story out from both their NBC and MSNBC accounts:
Senate Majority Leader McConnell, who said recently he opposes paying government reparations to descendants of American slaves, has family history deeply entwined in the issue:
— NBC News (@NBCNews) July 9, 2019
2 of his great-great-grandfathers were slave owners, US census records show. https://t.co/GdMs0yyEpT pic.twitter.com/NMhJDAGlkZ
Senate Majority Leader McConnell, who said recently he opposes paying government reparations to descendants of American slaves, has family history deeply entwined in the issue:
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) July 8, 2019
2 of his great-great-grandfathers were slave owners, US census records show. https://t.co/iuapqpRuNL
Washington Post reporter Felicia Sonmez also shared the story on Twitter and mostly got bashed for it:
Twitter users mocked the story making several good points, such as:
Liberals claim DACA recipients can’t be held responsible for the actions of their parents, but Americans must pay reparations for the actions of their distant relatives?
The Republican Party freed slaves.
When will they do this search history for Democrats? Apparently Kamala Harris’ family also has a history of slave owners. Why wasn’t NBC interested in going into her backstory?
H/T: Twitchy
