Author and essayist Ta-Nehisi Coates has a brief history lesson for Congress.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday told reporters he didn't support reparations for descendants of former slaves, saying that "none of us currently living" are responsible for it. So in a Wednesday hearing in front of a House panel on the reparations bill HR 40, Coates provided some examples of slavery's repercussions that "extended well into the lifetime" of McConnell.


When slavery was outlawed in the U.S. more than 150 years ago, "this country could have extended its hallowed principles — life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness — to all, regardless of color," Coates said Wednesday. But instead, "black people were subjected to a relentless campaign of terror" well into the mid-1900s, Coates continued. This included "the electrocution of George Stinney," a 14-year-old boy convicted in 10 minutes of murdering two white girls and exonerated 70 years after his execution, and "the blinding of Isaac Woodard," a World War II veteran beaten by police just hours after being honorably discharged.

Coates' full testimony is published at The Atlantic.