Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Former Fresno Councilmember and Assemblymember Mike Briggs Dies After Cancer Battle

5 hours ago

Trump Says He’s Committed to Sending National Guard Troops to Chicago

6 hours ago

Trump Dismisses Rumors He Is in Ill Health, Calls Them ‘Fake’

6 hours ago

Rubio Says US Military Conducted Lethal Strike Against Drug Vessel From Venezuela

6 hours ago

Trump Says He Is ‘Very Disappointed’ With Putin Over Ukraine

7 hours ago

Wall Street Hits Over One-Week Low on Tariff Uncertainty, Data in Focus

11 hours ago

US Judge Blocks Trump Administration’s Use of Troops in Los Angeles

11 hours ago

Garnet Fire in Fresno County Grows to 26,982 Acres, 12% Contained

11 hours ago
House Speaker Ryan Uncovers Jewish Roots on PBS Show
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 7 years ago on
August 1, 2018

Share

BEVERLY HILLS — House Speaker Paul Ryan was surprised and proud to find out he has Jewish roots.
The Wisconsin Republican discovered his family history while filming a segment for the upcoming season of the PBS series “Finding Your Roots With Henry Louis Gates Jr.”

“You could have knocked him over with a feather and then he was very proud of it. We don’t know who that Jewish person was, but we know it was on his mother’s German line, which makes sense. So somebody who was a Christian German slept with a Jewish German person and that’s where that came from.”Henry Louis Gates Jr., host of “Finding Your Roots”
Gates said Tuesday at a TV critics meeting that he traced Ryan’s heritage back to his 10th great-grandfather born in 1531 in Germany. The research showed Ryan is 3 percent Ashkenazi Jewish.

Show Explores Roots of Marco Rubio, Tulsi Gabbard, Too

Also featured on the show’s fifth season debuting in January is Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii.
Gates said he chose Ryan because he was fascinated by him and not his politics. He picked Rubio because he wanted to include a Cuban and Gabbard because of her Pacific ancestry.
“Her genome looks like the rainbow coalition because it’s Asian and European and African and it’s beautiful,” he said.
Rubio’s history was traced to his fifth great-grandparents born in Italy and on his father’s side his seventh great-grandparents born in the Canary Islands, off the northwest coast of Africa.

“We’re all immigrants. We’re all mixed up. When the lights came down, everybody was sleeping with everyone else.” — Henry Louis Gates Jr.
“There was a lot going on politically and in terms of immigration for him,” Gates said.
Gates’ wife, Marial Iglesias Utset, is a Cuban historian and she had her graduate students research Rubio’s history in addition to hiring people in Cuba to find his family tree in parish churches.
“It was like a challenge, an intellectual challenge for me,” Gates said.
Gates said his purpose in doing the show is to deconstruct race and show how racism manifests itself in the current anti-immigrant feeling in the United States.
“We’re all immigrants. We’re all mixed up,” he said. “When the lights came down, everybody was sleeping with everyone else.”

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Fresno Man Caught With 1,500 Fentanyl Pills Sentenced to Five Years

DON'T MISS

California Jury Clears Pop Star Cardi B of Assault Allegations in Civil Lawsuit

DON'T MISS

How the US Congressional Redistricting War is Playing Out State by State

DON'T MISS

Republican US House Committee Releases Thousands of Epstein Files

DON'T MISS

AI Will Require 60% of Workers to Retrain. Are Fresno Colleges Ready?

DON'T MISS

How One Blackstone Avenue Shelter Took Business Owners’ Concerns to Heart

DON'T MISS

They Were Convicted of Gang Crimes. New CA Supreme Court Rulings Trim Their Sentences

DON'T MISS

Former Fresno Councilmember and Assemblymember Mike Briggs Dies After Cancer Battle

DON'T MISS

US Congress Returns, With One Month to Avert Government Shutdown

DON'T MISS

Trump Says His Administration Will Ask Supreme Court for Expedited Ruling on Tariffs

UP NEXT

Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce Announce Engagement

UP NEXT

Lil Nas X Pleads Not Guilty to Felony Charges of Assaulting Police

UP NEXT

From Visalia to the Big Leagues: Dave Flemming’s Journey to Giants’ Broadcast Booth

UP NEXT

Hollywood’s Biggest AI Debut? Las Vegas Sphere’s ‘Wizard of Oz’

UP NEXT

Singer Lil Nas X Arrested After Charging at Officers, Police Say

UP NEXT

Find Out How You Can Watch Sold Out 72-Hour Film Race

UP NEXT

Fresno Hosts Giddy Up N’ Groove Country Festival Before Dog Daze Fest

UP NEXT

International Rapper Derrick ‘Aesop’ McElroy Who Called Fresno Home Dies at 51

UP NEXT

ESPN Won’t Air Spike Lee’s Docuseries on Colin Kaepernick, Citing ‘Creative Differences’

UP NEXT

CMAC Will Award Cash Prizes at 72-Hour Film Race Screening

Republican US House Committee Releases Thousands of Epstein Files

3 hours ago

AI Will Require 60% of Workers to Retrain. Are Fresno Colleges Ready?

4 hours ago

How One Blackstone Avenue Shelter Took Business Owners’ Concerns to Heart

4 hours ago

They Were Convicted of Gang Crimes. New CA Supreme Court Rulings Trim Their Sentences

4 hours ago

Former Fresno Councilmember and Assemblymember Mike Briggs Dies After Cancer Battle

5 hours ago

US Congress Returns, With One Month to Avert Government Shutdown

5 hours ago

Trump Says His Administration Will Ask Supreme Court for Expedited Ruling on Tariffs

6 hours ago

Trump Says He’s Committed to Sending National Guard Troops to Chicago

6 hours ago

Fresno Police Arrest Teen After Traffic Stop Leads to Foot Chase, Firearm Recovery

6 hours ago

Trump Dismisses Rumors He Is in Ill Health, Calls Them ‘Fake’

6 hours ago

Fresno Man Caught With 1,500 Fentanyl Pills Sentenced to Five Years

A Fresno man was sentenced Tuesday to five years in federal prison for possessing fentanyl with intent to distribute, prosecutors said. Ady ...

3 hours ago

The crest of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) is seen at their headquarters in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 10, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File photo
3 hours ago

Fresno Man Caught With 1,500 Fentanyl Pills Sentenced to Five Years

Cardi B looks on during the presentation of designer Rousteing's Spring/Summer 2025 Women's ready-to-wear collection show for fashion house Balmain during Paris Fashion Week in Paris, France, September 25, 2024. (Reuters File)
3 hours ago

California Jury Clears Pop Star Cardi B of Assault Allegations in Civil Lawsuit

Democratic lawmakers in Texas
3 hours ago

How the US Congressional Redistricting War is Playing Out State by State

U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein appears in a photograph taken for the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services' sex offender registry March 28, 2017 and obtained by Reuters July 10, 2019. New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
3 hours ago

Republican US House Committee Releases Thousands of Epstein Files

4 hours ago

AI Will Require 60% of Workers to Retrain. Are Fresno Colleges Ready?

4 hours ago

How One Blackstone Avenue Shelter Took Business Owners’ Concerns to Heart

The California Supreme Court (CalMatters/File)
4 hours ago

They Were Convicted of Gang Crimes. New CA Supreme Court Rulings Trim Their Sentences

Mike Briggs
5 hours ago

Former Fresno Councilmember and Assemblymember Mike Briggs Dies After Cancer Battle

Search

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Send this to a friend