State Rep. Jennifer Decker made the claim while pushing a bill to end college diversity initiatives.
  • @[email protected]OP
    0•10 months ago

    When the reporter persisted, Decker explained that her father—a preacher born around 1933, according to the Courier Journal, or 68 years after slavery was outlawed—was “born into poverty” and worked for free with his family on the property they lived on. (It’s unclear whether the adults were paid, though the Courier Journal notes that it sounds more like “Decker’s father was forced by his parents to do chores” and that the family were tenant farmers.)

    “My dad had to do chores when he was growing up 😭😭” - KY State Rep. Jennifer Decker

    • Flying Squid
      1•10 months ago

      Meanwhile, this was her original statement:

      My father was born on a dirt farm in Lincoln County. His mother was the illegitimate daughter of a very prominent person who then was kind enough to allow them to work for him as slaves. So, if you’re asking, did we own slaves? My father was a slave, just to a white man and he was white.

      I wish the Courier Journal had simply asked her, “was your father able to leave whenever he wanted?”