Wikipedia defines Uncle Tom as “a derogatory term for a person who perceives themselves to be of low status, and is excessively subservient to perceived authority figures; particularly a black person who behaves in a subservient manner to white people.” The term “Uncle Tom” comes from the title character of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1852 novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Whether this appraisal of the character is accurate or not is a matter of debate as Frederick Douglass praised the novel as “a flash to light a million camp fires in front of the embattled hosts of slavery.”
Today “Uncle Tom” is used as a pejorative to describe Blacks, such as Justice Thomas or Presidential candidate Herbert Cain, who do not support Left-wing political causes. Writes Ali Akbar in A Tea Party Invitation to Morgan Freeman over at Tea Party Brew about this kind of mentality amongst his fellow Blacks:
There’s already plenty of groupthink among American blacks. Over 90% of us vote Democrat with religious regularity, and we have been doing so for over fifty years. For a short time, I was one of them. I realized a few years ago that the Democrats’ promises of equality bestowed by government wasn’t working and will never work. I came to believe that redistributionist policies with the goal of social justice was essentially creating a new plantation within the federal government. Scraps might be thrown our way, but dependence on the plantation would be the inevitable result.
Over half a century since we started voting for Democrat policies, blacks in America are worse off than before. Black Americans are more likely to get involved with drugs, go to prison, and die younger than our white counterparts. Over 70% of our children are born out of wedlock. Our abortion rate has never been higher. There are two explanations for these results. 1) Blacks are an inferior race and can’t take care of themselves. 2) Despite the best of intentions, the government has created and implemented “social justice” policies that promote perpetual dependence. I choose to believe the latter.