Georgia State Senator Uses ‘Uncle Tom’ Slur, Claims Ignorance on Origin of the Term

The Democratic Party has a predictable formula for dealing with people in the Republican Party that they believe should fall in line with the left based on physical attributes. Therefore, if you are a gay Republican, you are a traitor to your fellow homosexuals.

If you are a Republican woman, you are a traitor to your sex and probably brainwashed by Christianity and your overbearing husband. And finally, if you are a black Republican, you are a traitor to your race and often called an ‘Uncle Tom.’

Even Supreme Court Justices aren’t immune to this sort of treatment, as illustrated in the Georgia state Senate this week. In an act of sheer ignorance, Georgia state Senator Emanuel Jones called Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas an ‘Uncle Tom.’

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An Expression

What could cause such vitriol to spew forth for Justice Thomas? A Republican-led proposal to place a statue of the Georgia native on the state Capitol grounds.

The debate on this proposal prompted Senator Emanuel Jones to protest, saying “We cannot avoid that conversation so I’m not going to avoid it either.” What conversation might that be?

“In the black community we have an expression – and I don’t want to use this label too deeply here because I’m just trying to tell you what we have in the African American community when we talk about a person of color that goes back historically to the days of slavery and that person betraying his own community – we have a term in the black community.”

That’s quite the build-up. So what is this term, Senator Jones? “That term that we use is called ‘Uncle Tom,'” he continued.

Ah, there it is, right on time, the insult against a man based on his political views focused on the color of his skin. 

I believe we have a term for that in the overall community; it’s called racist. But this isn’t the best part; Senator Jones goes on to say:

“And ‘Uncle Tom’ is a – either fictional or non-fictional character, I don’t really know the origin of ‘Uncle Tom’ – but it talks about a person who, back during the days of slavery, sold his soul to the slave masters.”

At least he admits publicly that he hasn’t a clue what he’s talking about.

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A Quick Cliff Note

It always bothers me when people, and let’s be honest, most of the time it’s African Americans referring to other African Americans as ‘Uncle Tom’ use this epithet. For numerous reasons, this should make people uncomfortable if not because it lacks class and is racist.

But what bothers me the most is the epithet doesn’t make sense. I’m an avid reader, and unlike most people who use the term ‘Uncle Tom,’ I’ve actually read Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1852 classic ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin.’ 

Harriet’s book was groundbreaking for the time because it humanized the plight of the suffering of slaves. This was not previously done or at least not done well in literature. It struck a chord with, perhaps most notably, the white population at the time.

In her book, ‘Uncle Tom’ is ultimately beaten to death for his quiet refusal to give up the location of three runaway slave women. The book was also interesting as Tom is definitely a passive stoic in understanding his situation. But, on the other hand, the three slave women are bold and daring – not something often thought of concerning women let alone black women at the time.

The actual epithet comes from derivatives of this book known as ‘Tom Shows’ in which the main character of the original work is made fun of and distorted. Adopting the term ‘Uncle Tom’ as a slur is not only insulting, but it’s showing passive acceptance of the same culture that aimed to degrade the original work. 

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It’s Never About Color

One good thing that comes out of Senator Jones’ nonsensical argument is that he brilliantly illustrates what this faux outrage is about in the most wonderfully ignorant way. 

Mr. Jones explains, “I don’t expect people of non-color to get the sensitivity that we feel about a person of color whose policies and practices and decisions and votes…we’ve rallied to fight against.” Ah, so disagreeing with someone else’s political positions has a different emotional reaction for those of color than us white folk?

Jones continues, “Justice Thomas’ decisions have certainly sparked outrage among women and not just women of color, but all women.”

Geez, I mean, I’m a woman last I checked, and Justice Thomas hasn’t sparked any outrage in me.

Then again, I’m probably just some dumb racist white woman who needs a black man who doesn’t know if Uncle Tom was fictional or not to tell me how I should feel.

Mr. Jones added, “And certainly, when we look at the LGBTQ+ community, his votes and positions he’s taken have raised outrage in that community as well.”

Bravo, Mr. Jones; you have inadvertently given a masterclass on poorly using an already inaccurate distorted epithet because you cannot debate issues based on their principles versus relegating individuals to their base characteristics.

Not the first time, won’t be the last

Unfortunately, this wasn’t the first time Justice Thomas has been called an ‘Uncle Tom.’ In 2017, Mississippi Congressman Bennie Thompson referred to the Justice as an ‘Uncle Tom.’ When asked if that was appropriate to say by CNN, he said it was because “I’m black.”

Typical response. Racism is ok if you are a minority but not ok if you are white. The reality is racism is wrong regardless of what color your skin is. But as usual, mainstream media and the establishment Republicans won’t dare call this activity out.

After the 2021 State of the Union rebuttal from Senator Tim Scott, the all too clever term ‘Uncle Tim’ trended on Twitter. And it is because of this passive acceptance of the unacceptable that minority Republicans will continue to face baseless and tasteless attacks from the left.

Recently I was accosted by an acquaintance alleging that when I write articles calling out the racism that isn’t from the right or originating from the White population, it makes me a racist. The truth is this country does have a problem with racism.

We have racist leaders in every industry and racist elevated stereotypes in media that glorify all the wrong things and trash the good things. Unfortunately, our society is too afraid to stand up and say enough is enough. Racism comes in many shapes, colors, and sizes – it is not unique to just one color, group, or environment.

It can even come in the form of blissful ignorance from a state Senator.