Uncle Tom
Uncle Tom is a derogatory term for a black person who is obsequiously servile to white authority, eager to win the approval of white people, or who rubber stamps white supremacist notions about the inherent superority of whites and its corrollary -- the inherent inferiority of blacks. "Uncle Toms" are perceived to take the side of whites when there is an injustice against blacks. The term Uncle Tom comes from the title character of white author Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin.
The book's Uncle Tom demonstrates an honorable grace and dignity, his story of suffering being similar to that of Job, from the Bible. Tom is pitying of Simon Legree, for Legree's fearful enslavement to his wickedness; despite his wealth, he is poor in spirit by comparison to faithful, old Tom.
Most blacks, however, object to Tom's passivity, willing subservience and complete lack of outrage at his enslavement, and to Stowe's paternalism in the portrayal of the loyal, patient, long-suffering Tom. They view the author's prose as patronizing, condescending, stereotypical, and emasculating. The depiction of Tom in the popular stage version of the novel also was greatly influential in popular perception of Tom as a servile, white-haired, shuffling slave who was grateful to his master.
Essentially, the accusation of being an Uncle Tom or Tomming questions the accused person's integrity, or courage, or both. The implication is that the person is demeaning him- or herself or acting against the interests of blacks, generally, for their own personal benefit, out of fear, or simply because they have been brainwashed to be complicit in their own oppression. A "Tom" can be someone judged to be insufficiently outraged by, or inadequately engaged in opposition against, a status quo of white privilege and black disadvantage. Sometimes, the term is applied to individuals who simply are perceived, rightly or wrongly, as being needlessly accommodating of whites.
During slavery, Tomming could be a cunning subterfuge. White masters often gave well-liked and trusted slaves coveted, less physically demanding duties to perform. "Faithful" bondsmen and women also tended to be watched less closely, allowing them opportunities to escape to freedom or engage in clandestine acts of defiance. A Tomming fieldhand who had been bullwhipped might have an opportunity to set crops on fire. An outwardly happy and generous cook whose husband or children had been sold away from her might exact a slow and agonizing death from her master by lacing his food with finely ground glass.
This practice of masking defiance or rage with acquiescence and civility continues today. As in years past, Tomming can be a means of appropriating and preserving a degree of private autonomy in the face of social prejudice and institutionalized racism, an act of subversion -- or even an over-the-top, satirical or mocking response to race prejudice.
Sometimes, women who Tom are called Aunt Jemima after the popular pancake mix that long depicted a kerchief-headed family cook of that name.
A roughly equivalent term is Oreo, from the chocolate sandwich cookie with white filling (implying that one is black on the outside but white on the inside). Coconut has the same meaning. Two contemporary figures frequently called Uncle Toms are Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who benefitted from Affirmative Action policies as a student, yet on the bench has ruled against it in his legal opinions; and Ward Connerly, a political conservative and staunch opponent of Affirmative Action.
Conversely, a militant or hostile response to perceived racial injustice on the part of blacks is sometimes called Mau-Mauing after the violent, protonationalist, largely Kikuyu secret society in British colonial Kenya.
Quotation
- "When you're black, you're black all day." General Colin Powell, responding to remarks along these lines.
See also
