Apparently, in the pre-Civil Rights South, it was considered polite / friendly to address older Negro men with the prefix "uncle." This is now viewed as having been condescending.
Regards,
Affirm.
Try to find Disney's 1946 movie "Song of the South" with the Uncle Remus narration. Based on the Georgia native Joel Chandler Harris' (1848-1908) Br'er Rabbit stories taken from AfroAmerican folk tales, the movie won an Oscar for its song "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" in 1948. Mr Harris was a longtime editor for the Atlanta Constitution newspaper and an advocate for regional and racial reconciliation in the 'New South'.
Now this movie and all of its iconic memes, 'tar baby', 'briar patch' etc. are verboten. Disney has never released this mixed animation & live action movie on any domestic home video.
We did it in CA, too. Older friends of the family were addressed as Uncle and Aunt, despite having no blood or marriage connection. Allows properly respectful interaction between kids/younger people and non-family adults/elders. Worked pretty well! Can’t have THAT anymore!!!
I was a bit surprised to be called “uncle” by a young Sikh man at work. His manner indicated respect.
I think removing the iconic black and native American is wrong-headed.
Apparently Alexander you are poorly informed
My God the shite freepers say
62 years old
Immersed in Majority or plurality black culture from Mississippi To Haiti to Jamaica to west Africa and so on nearly all my life and the only time I’ve ever seen older black men called uncle is in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s agit prop
I was mentored by older black men having been raised in a large construction family and never once called any of them no matter how beloved.....uncle
Nor did we say mammy...not in my lifetime