Subject: "Uncle Tom" (was Re: Democratic Reaction To Powell: A Savage Hypocracy)
From: Suzanne Morine (suzannem@dimensional.com)
Date: Sat Dec 23 2000 - 01:37:15 GMT
At 11:08 AM 12/20/2000 -0500, Jive Monkey wrote:
>furthermore i think referring to [Powell] as "uncle tom," could be
>construed as meaning he is some kind of race traitor, or white wanna be,
>as is often the use of that phrase. that is ridiculous.
>however, revering gen powell as if he is some minor diety, or a saint, and
>heaping so much praise and admiration on him for doing his job, is a
>little far fetched.
I agree that the term, "Uncle Tom" seems to mean a traitor to black people.
Ever since I read "Uncle Tom's Cabin," this meaning has puzzled me. When I
read the book, which was several years ago, I found Uncle Tom to be nothing
short of a "minor diety, a saint," a Jesus accepting his burden with
humility while still being good to his fellow slaves. If I recall
correctly, the point of the book was that you could be the perfect slave,
and still not get the respect and freedom you deserve: slavery was a set
up, a wrong. He deserved the respect and freedom that the low-life masters
had.
My sense from the book would be that being an Uncle Tom is being a model
human being, proving your worth day in and day out. Granted, doing this to
a farcical, sad extreme, but that still does not quite equate with being a
sell out, in my mind. I suppose that Uncle Tom assented to the status quo
and did his best within it. Yes, he might have developed a more complex
approach, but he was uneducated, after all. And to be an actual traitor or
white wanna be would have meant actually working *against* his fellow slaves.
When someone works harder and more purely than others, are they seen as
traitors, even when they are working toward an ideal of goodness that they
hold as dear as life?
Other observations?
(Looking up "Uncle Tom" in my dictionary, it is a contemptous term for a
Negro who is abjectly deferential or servile to whites.)
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