Question about why "sellout" black folks are called Uncle Toms.

[Barnett114]

Hence why on The Boondocks, Tom is just a regular dude

Where's Ruckus is the Uncle

 

[tuckgod]

Hence why on The Boondocks, Tom is just a regular dude

Where's Ruckus is the Uncle

 

[Asicz]

Elaborate breh

c00n was a racial slur towards black people that whites used especially in the mid 20th century.

"c00n Songs" was a musical genre used in minstrel shows as early as the mid 19th century. It featured
featured watermelon- and chicken-loving rural buffoons.
See c00n Song wiki

Also "c00n Hunting" is a term for hunting black people and was used recently used on video by a off duty cop.

VA Governer Northram posed in Black face as "c00n man" next to a person dressed as Klansman in his school Yearbook in the early 1980s.

'c00n' was Southern term for Rac00n also.



Now in the 2010s black people call other black people 'c00n' or say they are "c00ning" for acting a certain way socialy/politically, playing the fool/stereotype for white people, being apologetic for white racism, parroting white racist talking points, or going against the grain of popular black social or political thought.

 

[Asicz]

So, in doing that, they encouraged black folks not to read a book with a good example of how black men should carry themselves.

I haven't read the book to this day strictly because of the title and the negative connotation behind that name.

That's wild.

The devil is always at work.

Why African Americans loathe Uncle Tom
NPR Choice page

 

[Asicz]

The book Uncle Tom outsold the Bible back in the day!

 

[tuckgod]

c00n was a racial slur towards black people that whites used especially in the mid 20th century.

"c00n Songs" was a musical genre used in minstrel shows as early as the mid 19th century. It featured
featured watermelon- and chicken-loving rural buffoons.
See c00n Song wiki

Also "c00n Hunting" is a term for hunting black people and was used recently used on video by a off duty cop.

VA Governer Northram posed in Black face as "c00n man" next to a person dressed as Klansman in his school Yearbook in the early 1980s.

'c00n' was Southern term for Rac00n also.



Now in the 2010s black people call other black people 'c00n' or say they are "c00ning" for acting a certain way socialy/politically, playing the fool/stereotype for white people, being apologetic for white racism, parroting white racist talking points, or going against the grain of popular black social or political thought.

So with all that being said, hypothetically speaking, "c00n" could be used as a term of endearment amongst black folks, just like "******/nikka", if we choose to, because it was originally used as a derogatory term towards all black folks, and not a term that we created to describe a black person that was a "sell out" to white folks?

 

[KBadd]

This is a doc I saw last year on PBS about Josiah Henson, Stowe’s inspiration for Uncle Tom. Worth a watch.

Redeeming Uncle Tom: The Josiah Henson Story | MPT Presents

 

[voltronblack]

I can't recall all the characters in the book, but it was probably because Uncle Tom was nice to that little White girl in the book. I also think that the book made out like he loved his master or some shyt like that. Anyway it was a white woman, Harriet Beecher Stowe, wrote the book so she framed how the term would be used.

The Tom caricature portrays black men as faithful, happily submissive servants. The Tom caricature, like the Mammy caricature, was born in ante-bellum America in the defense of slavery. How could slavery be wrong, argued its proponents, if black servants, males (Toms) and females (Mammies), were contented and loyal? The Tom is presented as a smiling, wide-eyed, dark skinned server: fieldworker, cook, butler, porter, or waiter. Unlike the c00n, the Tom is portrayed as a dependable worker, eager to serve. Unlike the Brute, the Tom is docile and non-threatening to whites. The Tom is often old, physically weak, psychologically dependent on whites for approval. In his book, Toms, c00ns, Mulattoes, Mammies, & Bucks, Donald Bogle (1994) summarizes the depiction of Toms in movies: Always as toms are chased, harassed, hounded, flogged, enslaved, and insulted, they keep the faith, n'er turn against their white massas, and remain hearty, submissive, stoic, generous, selfless, and oh-so-very kind. Thus they endear themselves to white audiences and emerge as heroes of sorts. (pp. 5-6)

Bogle's description is similar to the portrayal of the main black character in Harriet Beecher Stowe's antislavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. Stowe's Tom is a gentle, humble, Christian slave. His faith is simple, natural, and complete. Stowe uses Tom's character to show the perfect gentleness and forgiving nature which she believed lay dormant in all blacks. These qualities reveal themselves under favorable conditions. Mr. Shelby, Tom's first Master is kind; therefore, Tom's innate spirituality flourishes. Mr. Shelby is not a good businessman; his financial troubles necessitate that he sell Tom. Tom does not run away despite a warning that he is to be sold. Mr. St. Clare, his second master, befriends Tom and promises to free him. Unfortunately for Tom, Mr. St. Clare is killed before signing manumission papers. Tom's fortunes take a decidedly sad turn. Tom is sold to Simon Legree, a brutal and sadistic deep South plantation owner. Legree is also a drunkard who hates religion and religious people.

Legree intends to make Tom an overseer. Tom is ordered by Legree to flog a woman slave. Tom refuses. Legree strikes him repeatedly with a cowhide lash. Again, he tells Tom to beat the woman. Tom, with a soft voice, says, "the poor crittur's sick and feeble; 'twould be downright cruel, and it's what I never would do, nor begin to. Mas'r, if you mean to kill me, kill me; but, as to my raising my hand agin anyone here, I never shall, -- I'll die first" (Stowe, p. 439).

Stowe wanted to show how slavery was incongruent with Christianity. How could Christians, she wondered, buy, sell, and trade slaves? How could they offer even tacit approval of slavery? How could white Christians allow their enslaved brethren to be sold to the likes of Legree? Her book is an unabashed attack on slavery, and Tom is one of her two perfect Christian characters; Mr. St. Clare's daughter, Eva, the other. Both die, Tom as a martyr.

Legree demands information from Tom about two women runaways. He knows that Tom can help him. Tom refuses. Legree beats Tom and threatens to kill him if Tom does not help him find the women. Tom, ever the Christian, does not lie, nor does he give Legree the information. Instead, Tom says:

Mas'r if you was sick, or in trouble, or dying, and I could save ye, I'd give ye my heart's blood; and if taking every drop of blood in this poor old body would save your precious soul, I'd give'em freely, as the Lord gave His for me. O, Mas'r! don't bring this great sin on your soul! It will hurt you more than 'twill me! Do the worst you can, my troubles'll be over soon; but, if ye don't repent, yours won't never end. (p. 508)

Legree beats Tom; Sambo, one of Legree's black overseers, flogs Tom. As Tom is dying, Legree yells to Sambo, "Give it to him!" Tom opens his eyes, looks at Legree, and says, "Ye poor miserable crittur! There ain't no more that ye can do! I forgive ye, with all my soul" (p. 509). Soon afterwards, Tom dies. Stowe portrayed him as a Christ figure; albeit a childlike one. Tom was offered as a sacrifice for the sins of an evil institution.


Despite being a model slave -- hard working, loyal, non-rebellious, and often contented -- Tom is sold, cursed, slapped, kicked, flogged, worked like a horse, then beaten to death. He never lifts a hand to hit his masters nor to stop a blow. Tom does not complain, rebel, or run away. This partially explains why the names "Uncle Tom" and "Tom" have become terms of disgust for African Americans. Tom's devotion to his master is surpassed only by his devotion to his religious faith.
The Tom Caricature - Anti-black Imagery - Jim Crow Museum - Ferris State University

 

[Geek Nasty]

Reading that book is another one of my red pill blue pill awakenings.

listen closely to the lyrics to “born in the USA” for another

 

[Asicz]

@tuckdog I maybe I should have not said 'flipped as in nikka but 'adopted' or 'adapted' the term ' c00n' and in addition created a new term and verb "c00ning". The usage of c00n in th 2010s by black Americans even in in the public eye on Twitter and even by black intellectuals like Melissa Harris Perry on MSNBC is acceptable.

c00n will be never used as twrm endearment imo.