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'Uncle Tom' Is More Destructive Than the 'N-word'
Townhall.com ^ | September 21, 2017 | Larry Elder

Posted on 09/21/2017 7:50:11 AM PDT by Kaslin

Warning: Graphic Language

The pejorative "Uncle Tom" causes more damage than does the word "n-----."

The "N-word," when used by a white person as an epithet against a black person, is an insult, designed to convey to the recipient that he or she is a second-class citizen. It is designed to make one feel inferior. But it hasn't worked. My parents, as did the parents of my friends, said no one can make you feel inferior without your permission. Lesson learned. For decades, tests measuring self-esteem show that teenage black boys and girls test higher than do white boys and white girls.

"Uncle Tom," on the other hand, when used by a black person as an epithet against another black person, is designed to do one thing and one thing only -- to label that person as a traitor, a sellout, as a black person who colludes with white racists to undermine the success of black people.

During my pre-election debate at an inner-city black church in Los Angeles against Roland Martin of "NewsOne," a "black" news show on cable channel TV One, Martin advised me to "get in touch with my blackness." My crime? I supported the candidacy of Donald Trump and predicted he would attract a greater share of the black vote than did Mitt Romney. I suggested that the damage done to the black family by the welfare state was far more than the degree of racism in today's America.

Because of blacker-than-thou people like Martin, the black community is not having a robust debate about, for example, whether there is a causal connection between the welfare state and the growing number of fatherless households.

How bad is this lack of critical thinking? During the O.J. Simpson murder trial, a New Jersey high school teacher wrote about the reaction to the case by his mostly black and brown students. Out of 110 students, only four thought Simpson actually did it. Whenever anyone dared suggest an alternative theory, that possibly Simpson himself might have murdered two people, he or she was denounced as a sympathizer for the wrong side. Several thought Kato Kaelin, Simpson's houseguest, did it. Another thought O.J. Simpson's friend Al Cowlings did it, despite a complete and utter lack of evidence. The teacher observed that the black females in his class exerted what he called "social control" over the others in the class to induce unanimity on Simpson's innocence.

Because of the intolerance of different points of view in the black community, we are not having a fact-based debate about the allegation of "systemic" racism in the criminal justice system. The real "traitors" are those who continue to push a false narrative about the alleged "proliferation" of anti-black police brutality, when, according to the Centers for Disease Control, police killings of blacks are down nearly 75 percent since 1968. In Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel admitted that the Black Lives Matter movement has made officers reluctant to proactively police and that cops have become increasingly passive: "There's no doubt Ferguson, Baltimore, New York, Cleveland, in my view, have put the genie out of the bottle. ... Unless we deal with backing them up, the gang members know (police) are not putting their hands on them because they don't want to be prosecuted, whether it be by public opinion or by the court. ... We have allowed our police department to get fetal, and it is having a direct consequence. ... They have pulled back from the ability to interdict. ... They don't want to be a news story themselves, they don't want their career ended early, and it's having an impact." Crime in many areas of the country has increased, victimizing the very people the Black Lives Matter movement claims to care about.

The real traitors are those who refuse to have a conversation about race-based preferences, even though those admitted to college under affirmative action are far likelier to drop out of college due to a mismatch of skills and school.

The real traitors are those who refuse to look at the obvious connection between the rise of fatherless households in the black community and the welfare state. In 1965, 25 percent of black kids were born outside of wedlock. That figure today is 71 percent. Today 29 percent of white kids are born outside of wedlock. Yet we do not have a serious debate about the causal connection between the welfare state and the No. 1 domestic problem in the country -- the rise of fatherless households. But to even raise this issue makes a black person a "traitor" who is "blaming the victim"?

The executive editor of The New York Times, Dean Baquet, a black man, recently acknowledged left-wing intolerance. "The left," he said, "as a rule, does not want to hear thoughtful disagreement." The black left, as a rule, does not believe that there is such a thing as thoughtful disagreement.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: aac; blacklivesmatter; chicago; larryelder; race; racism; rahmemanuel

1 posted on 09/21/2017 7:50:11 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin; Chode; Steely Tom; sport

I beg to differ.

Being called a “Sell out” and a “coon” is more offensive


2 posted on 09/21/2017 7:52:00 AM PDT by Morgana ( Always a bit of truth in dark humor.)
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To: Kaslin

How you counteract the gang thug or whatever its called lifestyle I have no idea..

But nearly every young black male seems to espouse to that lifestyle of gangs/drugs/violence...

I just dont get it... at all.


3 posted on 09/21/2017 7:57:57 AM PDT by wyowolf (Be ware when the preachers take over the Republican party...)
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To: Kaslin

Oh no, what will I call my mother’s brother Thomas now???


4 posted on 09/21/2017 8:01:00 AM PDT by ObozoMustGo2012 ("Be quiet... you are #fakenews!")
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To: Morgana
Being called a “Sell out” and a “coon” is more offensive

I would tend agree. I assume it feels like your very identity is being taken away from you. Like you are being shunned from the tribe and cast out. Calling somebody the N word does none of that. The original N word degrades a person but keeps them within their identity, if that makes sense.

I dunno, I guess I should read the article before I pop off. But it is kinda long...hmmmmm.Wwhat to do.

5 posted on 09/21/2017 8:04:51 AM PDT by bagster
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To: Kaslin

I am a white guy who had an Uncle Tom. My grandfather’s older brother, Thomas.


6 posted on 09/21/2017 8:24:57 AM PDT by BigEdLB (To Dimwitocrats: We won. You lost. Get used to it.)
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To: Kaslin
The black left, as a rule, does not believe
that there is such a thing as thoughtful disagreement.

Generalize that statement...
ALL groups who hold extremist views
Actively prevent "thoughtful disagreement"

7 posted on 09/21/2017 8:31:11 AM PDT by HangnJudge
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To: wyowolf
But nearly every young black male seems to espouse to that lifestyle of gangs/drugs/violence...

There are plenty of them who reject that; they just don't get the headlines.

8 posted on 09/21/2017 9:43:34 AM PDT by JimRed ( TERM LIMITS, NOW! Building the Wall! TRUTH is the new HATE SPEECH.)
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To: Kaslin

bkmk


9 posted on 09/21/2017 9:54:11 AM PDT by Sergio (An object at rest cannot be stopped! - The Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs at Midnight)
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To: Kaslin

The Uncle Tom in the book was a saint and the last chapters of the story are essentially a Passion Play. It is a tragic misuse of words to equate “sellout” with a character who demonstrates near perfection of the teachings of Jesus.


10 posted on 09/21/2017 9:55:21 AM PDT by MHT (,`)
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To: JimRed; wyowolf
"...There are plenty of them who reject that; they just don't get the headlines..."

100% true. What is also true is that there is a significant portion of those who don't see any value in it and eschew that side of "black culture" are vilified for being "too white" or an "Uncle Tom".

If anyone doubts that, look at any case where a black man speaks out against thuggish behavior and espouses getting educated, learning a trade, and not looking and speaking like you just stepped out of a ghetto...look at the things that many in the black community say about them.

Heck, just see what many in the black community have had to say about Jim Brown (Ex football player)

11 posted on 09/21/2017 9:56:31 AM PDT by rlmorel (Liberals: American Liberty is the egg that requires breaking to make their Utopian omelette.)
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To: rlmorel

If anyone has ever read the book, Uncle Tom was an heroic character who sacrificed his life to save others. I have never understood the stereotype of this character.


12 posted on 09/21/2017 10:00:18 AM PDT by freepertoo
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To: rlmorel

If anyone has ever read the book, Uncle Tom was an heroic character who sacrificed his life to save others. I have never understood the stereotype of this character.


13 posted on 09/21/2017 10:00:19 AM PDT by freepertoo
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To: Kaslin

WE need a lot more guys of Larry Elder’s quality speaking their minds to the “black community”.


14 posted on 09/21/2017 10:01:53 AM PDT by JimRed ( TERM LIMITS, NOW! Building the Wall! TRUTH is the new HATE SPEECH.)
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To: rlmorel

Oh i agree, I see that a lot here in Atl...

watching some of these rap videos is kill, drugs, rape, shoot stuff, repeat N word 5000 times...


15 posted on 09/21/2017 10:09:25 AM PDT by wyowolf (Be ware when the preachers take over the Republican party...)
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To: fieldmarshaldj

Ping


16 posted on 09/21/2017 7:41:08 PM PDT by Impy (The democrat party is the enemy of your family and civilization itself, forget that at your peril.)
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