13 Feb 2011

Tea Party ignores slavery in African-American history again

"Other than Native Americans who were here, all of us have the same story," US Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) told the National Press Club at a "Tea Party Express Forum" Tuesday.

She went on to insist that all Americans are descendants of "a risk-taker from their home country, doesn't matter what the country is, but they took a risk, and they came here."

slave

"And they knew when they came here they weren't coming for a welfare state," Bachmann continued. "They were coming here for the thrill of writing their own ticket. Who did we attract? People that wanted a better life and were willing to do what it took to get it."

Bachmann's remarks completely ignored the fact that the ancestors of today's African-Americans were brought to the United States involuntarily as slaves. One of the framers, Thomas Jefferson, famously fathered children with Sally Hemmings, one of his slaves.

Full story on The Raw Story - More info at US National Slavery Museum.org