By Sharon Kimathi, Energy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital

Hello!

United States leaders – lawmakers, presidents, governors and justices – have slaveholding ancestors, a Reuters examination found. Few are willing to talk about their ties to America's “original sin” and the below will highlight some key findings from the report.

But how is slavery tied to environment, social and governance (ESG) issues? The United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, E. Tendayi Achiume, said it best in a U.N. report.

“There can be no meaningful mitigation or resolution of the global ecological crisis without specific action to address systemic racism, in particular the historic and contemporary racial legacies of colonialism and slavery.”

In researching the genealogies of America’s political elite, a Reuters examination found that a fifth of the nation’s congressmen, living presidents, Supreme Court justices and governors are direct descendants of ancestors who enslaved Black people.

A combination illustration image shows U.S. lawmakers. At least 100 members of the last sitting Congress are direct descendants of ancestors who enslaved Black people. Reuters/Staff

Among 536 members of the last sitting Congress, Reuters determined at least 100 descended from slaveholders. Of that group, more than a quarter of the Senate – 28 members – can trace their families to at least one slaveholder.

Those lawmakers from the 117th session of Congress are Democrats and Republicans alike. They include some of the most influential politicians in America: Republican senators Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, Tom Cotton and James Lankford, and Democrats Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Duckworth, Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan.

In addition, President Joe Biden and every living former U.S. president – except Donald Trump – are direct descendants of slaveholders: Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and – through his white mother’s side – Barack Obama. Trump’s ancestors came to America after slavery was abolished.

In notifying political elites of their family ties to slaveholding, Reuters investigators identified which of their ancestors enslaved people, how many people that ancestor enslaved, and how many generations removed that ancestor is from them.

Reuters also sought comment from each public official to understand how learning about their family connection to slavery might affect them personally, and whether that knowledge might inform their views on policy matters.

“Before you reached out, I didn’t know this part of my genealogy. I’ve always been adamant that we fully reckon with our country’s history, from the extraordinary horrors of slavery to forced boarding schools for Native children to Jim Crow segregation,” said U.S Democratic Senator for New Mexico Martin Heinrich in a statement to Reuters.

“And I’ve been proud to fight for reforms in the Senate that address ongoing systemic racism and injustices. But knowing that my own ancestor enslaved 12 people makes this work even more personal. We have so much more work to do, and I will never walk away from doing it.”

Bills introduced in the House and Senate would create a commission to address “the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery in the United States and the 13 American colonies between 1619 and 1865” – and the racial and economic discrimination against Black Americans that followed.

Such a commission, the bills say, would consider a national apology and proposals for reparations.

Some of the leading voices on the matter, both for and against, have a personal connection to the issue: They have one or more ancestors who were slaveholders.

The issue is divisive. A Reuters/Ipsos survey found that slightly more than half of respondents identifying as Democrats – 58% – support reparations. Just 18% of Republicans do. The divide is even greater between Black and white America. The poll found that 74% of Black Americans favor reparations compared to just 26% of white Americans.

In conjunction with this Reuters series, Legacy Family Tree Webinars is making available at no charge a variety of online genealogy webinars from its extensive library to help novices and experts alike.

Talking Points

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In the Market: Corporate directors, academics and other governance experts are calling for companies to focus more on retaining and nurturing the people they hire. Among the components of DEI - diversity, equity and inclusion - they argue a focus on the latter two themes is crucial to make diversity more than just a box-checking exercise and necessary to reap its benefits.

In Conversation

Carolynn Johnson, CEO of U.S.-based diversity, equity and inclusion ranking firm DiversityInc, shares her thoughts on the pushback against using ‘ESG’ and data transparency in DEI:

“It’s interesting to me that we will allow others to edit us on what to call it.

“Nobody is talking about ‘revenue’ and changing that. Nobody is talking about ‘profitability’ and then saying we have to call it something else. No one is talking about ‘sales’ and saying change that. But when it comes to treating people fairly and ESG, we're allowing ourselves to be edited on telling the truth and I have a problem with that.

“This is why the gateway to any organization working with us or receiving recognition with us as a Top 50 company for diversity is through data transparency.

“Are companies being forthright about their data? This year, there were 151 major U.S. employers with 750 full-time equivalent employees or more (that's one of the criteria to be eligible).

"These rankings represent evidence-based, superior human capital outcomes that are achieved only by data transparency and an unwavering commitment to workplace fairness for everyone.

“I truly do believe that most of them do believe in this work. They do believe that everyone is equally valued and are deserving of equal opportunity, and they may get it wrong, but nobody is perfect.

“It’s about the desire to keep trying and to communicate that effort that I think deserves recognition to show that they're all doing much better than any other organizations.”