The Washington Post promoted what it considered an "exclusive" history piece by staff writer Gillian Brockell on Wednesday about how many slave owners and Confederate figures are depicted in various artworks at the U.S. Capitol.
The piece originally came out on Tuesday and documented that out of the hundreds of paintings and sculptures located within the entire building, almost one-third of them featured someone who owned slaves, likely owned slaves or served in the Confederacy.
"When the 118th Congress is sworn in on Jan. 3, its members will walk the halls of a building whose paintings and statues pay homage to 141 enslavers," Brockell wrote. "As part of a year-long investigation into Congress’s relationship with slavery, The Washington Post analyzed more than 400 artworks in the U.S. Capitol building, from the Crypt to the ceiling of the Capitol Rotunda, and found that one-third honor enslavers or Confederates. Another six honor possible enslavers — people whose slaveholding status is in dispute."
The article was later promoted on the Washington Post’s official Twitter account on Wednesday.
The Founding Fathers were listed as "enslavers" depicted in U.S. Capitol artwork by the Washington Post. ((AP Photo))
"Exclusive: A Washington Post investigation of more than 400 artworks in the U.S. Capitol building found that nearly one-third honor enslavers or Confederates," the paper tweeted.
Several Twitter users quickly mocked this report for being an "exclusive" as well as the irony of the publication being named after George Washington who owned slaves.
"lololol i sorta love that an article based entirely on publicly available information and pacing around the capitol with a notepad is being promoting as ‘exclusive’, as if archeologists opened king tut's tomb for the first time and granted them special access," Washington Examiner columnist Becket Adams joked.
Washington Free Beacon reporter Joe Gabriel Simonson agreed, writing "How is this an exclusive."
"Remember. These are supposedly our intellectual superiors," RedState writer Bonchie wrote.
A Washington Post piece in May previously called for the renaming of George Washington University. (Oliver Contreras/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)
American Institute for Economic Research director Phil Magness asked, "Remember that time just 5 years ago when the Washington Post assured us that various statue removal movements were not going to be a slippery slope to George Washington and Thomas Jefferson?"
"Every symbol of the old republic must be torn down or repurposed to fit to goals of the new regime," Daily Signal columnist Jarrett Stepman warned.
American Enterprise Institute senior fellow Christina Sommers tweeted, "Change your name or pipe down."
Brockell’s article included George Washington as well as his wife Martha Washington among the list of "enslavers" and lamented that "none of the works are accompanied by any acknowledgment that their subjects enslaved people."
The Washington Post has also supported efforts to tear down statues depicting former slaveowners. (REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo)
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"Just as governments and institutions across the country struggle with the complex and contradictory legacies of celebrated historical figures with troubling racial records, so too does any effort to catalogue the role of the Capitol artworks’ subjects in the institution of slavery," Brockell wrote.
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