"Uncle Tom Powell Stumps for Massah Bush"http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/4/12/183155/559 http://www.villagevoice.com/2000-08-15/news/the-uncle-tom-dilemma/1"Hanging with Bush and stumping for the presidential hopeful in hiscampaign of bogus inclusiveness is enough to convince some blacks thatColin Powell suffers from "Uncle Toms' Dilemma," a syndrome that hasplagued black leaders for generations and alienates the people theyprofess to advocate for. What's a black man in Powell's position todo?" http://www.inthesetimes.com/issue/25/04/ransby2504.htmlUncle Tom's Cabinet? A few black faces at the top won't quell theoutrage at the bottom. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,65286,00.html"Colin Powell is permitted to come into the house of the master, aslong as he will serve the master according to the master's plans,"Belafonte said. "And when Colin Powell dares suggest something otherthan what the master wants to hear, he will be turned back out topasture. And you don't hear much from those who live in the pasture."- Harry Belafonte - To the extent Barack Obama's political trajectory was bouyed inlarge part by support from the white capitalist establishment, hecould also be fairly said to be suffering from 'Uncle Tom's dilemma'.And this is precisely the question Ralph Nader legitimately raised.It strikes me as intellectually dubious to seize upon Ralph Nader'scritique of Obama rather than engage him in debate as to whether hisassessment is correct or not. Many liberals have dimissed Condi Rice,Clarence Thomas and Colin Powell variously as Aunt Jemimah or UncleTom over the years, suddenly Ralph Nader is a pariah for raising thisissue with respect to Barack Obama. It is as though any blackpolitician who is subservient to the White Liberal Establishment getsa pass. No, the question of whose interests they serve must be asked -as Ralph Nader did. Needless to say, many liberals are only too eagerto seize upon anything that would help eliminate Ralph Nader as acritic of Barack Obama given what can be expected to be a Clinton-reduxadministration.
Joe W.
> Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 16:49:09 -0500> From: charlesb at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org> Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Nader: not the only one to use the phrase 'Uncle Tom'> > > > >>> "James Heartfield" > > Those leaping to defend Barack Obama from racial epithets seem to have let the same slip by when it came to Condoleezza Rice, who was called a 'House Negro' on this list http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/2005/2005-September/019971.html and a 'Black American Princess' http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/2002/2002-December/028191.html > Marvin Gandall defended the use of 'Uncle Tom' to describe establishment blacks here http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/2006/2006-May/008881.html and Doug called Juan Williams 'Uncle Tom' here http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/2006/2006-January/000560.html > > I guess it is not the words 'Uncle Tom' that people are objecting to, but that Nader dared to criticise Obama.> > ^^^^^> CB: Yeah. It is not that "Uncle Tom"or Sambo or Aunt Jemina shouldn't be used. ( technically the correct term is "Sambo"; In _Uncle Tom's Cabin_, Uncle Tom was actually an undercover abolitionist; Sambo was the Black traitor/overseer) It is 1) Ralph Nader is not Black, and the overwhelming majority of Black people have "declared" Obama the opposite of an Uncle Tom , putting Nader "out to lunch" on this, and; 2) Obama is _not_ an Uncle Tom 3) Condeleezza Rice is one.> > So, it's ok to use the term, but, when one uses it inaccurately, as Nader does here, one should expect to get called on it. Nader's calling Obama an Uncle Tom is as stupid as calling Coleman Young or Jesse Jackson an Uncle Tom. It's like duhhhhhh, Ralph. Obama just persuaded tens of millions of White people to put a Black person in one of the most power offices there is. That is the complete and utter opposite of "Uncle Tomism". Hard to think of a stronger expression of Black power than what Obama just did , and believe me, 97% of Black people know it. > > > Uncle Tom> >From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia> > Uncle Tom is a pejorative for a black person who is perceived by others as behaving in a subservient manner to White American authority figures, or as seeking ingratiation with them by way of unnecessary accommodation. The term Uncle Tom comes from the title character of Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, although there is debate over whether the character himself is deserving of the pejorative attributed to him. Stowe never meant Uncle Tom to be a degrading character, but the term as a pejorative has developed based on how later versions of the character, stripped of his strength, were depicted on stage.[1]> > It is commonly used to describe black people whose political views or allegiances are considered by their critics as detrimental to blacks as a group.> > > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambo_(ethnic_slur)> > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Legree#Simon_Legree > > > > > > This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com> > ___________________________________> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
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