If you haven’t started already, you should tune in on Fridays from 1 to 3 p.m. on WTLC-AM (1310) to hear my weekly bouts with the gentleman whose column occupies the other side of this page. It makes for fun dialogue, especially when a caller accuses me of being an “Uncle Tom.”
What I’ve always found interesting about the “Uncle Tom” debate is that most people use that term without fully knowing what it means. According to the urban dictionary, the term “Uncle Tom” is used to describe “a Black man who will do anything to stay in good standing with ‘the white man’ including betray his own people.”
I always expressed my conservative views regardless of who was in the room, Black or white. However, if you do the research, the “Uncle Tom” character in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1852 novel is actually a hero instead of a sellout.
Anyone who has ever studied the true history of Uncle Tom’s Cabin knows the novel humanized the plight of slaves in the early to mid-19th century. Tom is actually more of a Christ-like figure who is martyred and beaten to death for refusing to give up the whereabouts of two escaped slaves. In later “interpretations” of the novel, “Uncle Tom” is viewed as a more subservient character.
This is the point where I draw a parallel between myself and Tom. I believe that true freedom for African-Americans is economic freedom. That comes from school choice so parents can get their kids the best education possible and reducing a government regulatory scheme and simplifying a tax code that robs entrepreneurs and small businesses of valuable wealth and time. It also makes sure Blacks can actually accumulate enough wealth to pass on to future generations.
Waiting on the government to provide you food and health care is not freedom. It is the worst form of slavery, because under those conditions, the participants aren’t being held against their will, but are willing participants in a system that makes them more dependent and less self-reliant.
Like Tom, I deal with the slings and arrows of a Black establishment that would love to crucify me if they could because I don’t subscribe to their politics that government is the answer to all of Black folks problems and if government just “gave more” life would be just fine. I am a firm believer that we should be masters of our own destiny.
I have always believed individuals can accomplish more than a government ever can. If wanting Black folks to truly be free makes me an Uncle Tom, then I will wear it with a badge of honor, since that is the true spirit of what Tom was fighting for.
Abdul-Hakim Shabazz is an attorney, political commentator and publisher of IndyPolitics.org. You can email comments to him at abdul@indypolitics.org.
