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Many wealthy members of Congress are descendants of rich slaveholders − new study demonstrates the enduring legacy of slavery (theconversation.com)

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago

I came into that article thinking "it's been nearly 150 years since emancipation, it can't be that bad, right?", but then I saw "current median net worth five times larger than their peers whose ancestors were not slaveholders: $5.6 million vs. $1.1 million". That's fucked up.

I can't find any hard numbers on how many Americans are descended from slave owners, but from my rough back of the napkin math it looks like they are represented in congress disproportionately high.

American racism being deep and ingrained isn't new, but this study shows it's not something to be taken lightly.