Posted on 04/23/2015 2:07:46 PM PDT by drewh
Ben Affleck has at least three ancestors who owned slaves including a wealthy landowner who bought a young boy who he appears to have set to work in his tanning business.
The Batman star's distant family can be traced to Connecticut and in 1728 they paid 80 pounds for a slave called Tobe who they kept until he was grown up. The bill of sale refers to Tobe as a 'negro boy' which the previous owner 'sold as my proper estate'.
Tobe's owner was called Nathaniel Stanley and was known as a smart man of 'respected piety and evangelical sentiments' - but that did not stop him keeping slaves.
Affleck's other slave owning ancestors were a man in Georgia and an Irish farmer from New Jersey who owned eight slaves.
None of these details were shown in the episode of Finding Your Roots which featured Affleck after host Henry Louis Gates Jr edited them out, leaked Sony emails have revealed.
PBS is now conducting an internal review to see if its own editorial guidelines were breached on the genealogy show.
Affleck has now apologized for asking Gates to make the changes. Gates - a respected Harvard academic - has said nothing for five days and was described by one commentator as 'diminished' by the disclosures.
The Oscar-winning actor said in a post on Facebook that the discovery of his past left him feeling 'embarrassed' and with a 'bad taste in my mouth' - but that he was wrong to censor it.
The row has been damaging for Affleck, who supports a number of liberal causes, has a charity for aid to the Congo, and is a champion of the left.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
This is all utter nonsense. How can anyone be held accountable for their ancestors?
Hey, it might work.
“I looked up my family tree and found out I was the sap.”
- Rodney Dangerfield
He Been Affleckted.
Given his ability... he did them a favor.
If you’re of African or Arabic ancestry, there’s an excellent chance you have slave owners in your family tree.
Ben....no one cares.
Who cares?
Slaves, too.
If anyone should be embarrassed about their slave-owing ancestors it should be 0bama. His ancestors probably sold Michelle’s ancestors to someone like Ben Afflecks ancestors.
I am conflicted on this. first off, he shouldn’t be ashamed of that fact. his ancestors were not alone in what they did. we all have ancestors somewhere along the line that owned slaves, I would imagine. but regardless, it’s odd that he would want that kept out of the show. I would think that it would make the show more interesting to examine that part of your unknown past. on the other hand, I imagine I might want a certain detail of my past not broadcast on national television (if they were doing a story on me) so shouldn’t that be my prerogative? it’s not like when you do a tv show you put your hand on the bible and swear to tell the whole truth, punishable by perjury if you leave out juicy details. thirdly, he’s a liberal douche so I don’t care about his troubles but it’s an interesting predicament nonetheless
If Ben didn’t do anything it wouldn’t have been a big deal, but now he comes off looking like a complete doofus, (What else is new?)
I looked up my tree, and I had slave holding ancestors, but also had people involved in helping with the underground railway, so I guess I balance out.
Reparations! Reparations! Reparations!
I’m in the clear. My ancestors were WAY too poor to have owned slaves.
But now he can “make amends” by producing a movie about it and show how far his family has evolved.
OH NOOOOOOOOOEZ
Are you kidding, Ben will love nothing more than to cry some crocodile tears and proclaim his mia culpas about this. It will satisfy his white guilt pathology and get some publicity for his upcoming movie.
Get him to Diane Sawyer for his tearful on camera apology now!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.