Many of the powerful men whose portraits decorate the White House walls only came to power because they were rich, and only came to be rich by enslaving Africans and committing abhorrent offenses against them. Now, on the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, it's time to recognize the evil these men committed.
Pennsylvania was the first state to pass an act abolishing slavery, and George Washington purposefully violated that law by cycling his slaves in and out of the state every few months. Why, when the President Obama's own children are descended from slaves, should we continue to worship him? Thomas Jefferson raped and sired children with his wife's enslaved half-sister Sallie Hemings. Should his portrait adorn our capitol?