Uncle Tom of the Twenty-first Century and the Hard Truth – The point of this conversation is centred on persons who could rank high on the list of most black persons as black people who enable the persecution of black people by supporting the ideologies of the white man which aims at causing harm to black people.
The tag dates back to the era of slavery in America when white slave masters appointed one black person (usually a man) to assist in running the plantation and in return, this individual assisted the slave masters in meting out punishments on the black slaves, and generally doing everything incidental or otherwise which ends up pleasing the master.
With the dawn of the 21st century, Uncle Tom has come to be described as any person who preaches or supports white ideologies, as opposed to generally acceptable black ideologies. These persons fit particular criteria which have over the years been used to describe people who have poor intentions towards black people.
They are, for instance, mostly Republicans, pro-life advocates, support #AllLivesMatter or #WhiteLivesMatter, discourage defunding the police, and so on. And just on cue, there are quite a number of persons who fit into this category, having expressed similar views as those listed above.
Take, for instance, Candace Owens. Now, if you asked any 21st-century black man who the replicas of Uncle Tom know, Candace could easily top the list for any of them. Not only has she expressed these views above, but during the Black Lives Matter riot that saw the destruction of various properties, she came out openly to call out the perpetrators of these acts of violence. As a staunch Republican, her political views have often been considered to go against everything that defines the black man politically, and even socially in the United States.
Owing to this, the title has been passed on to her, making her one of the most hated black persons among black people generally. But the hard truth remains that the 21st-century uncle Tom may just be anyone whose opinions are contrary to the opinions of some black people who choose to take offence by this.
It has gotten to a point where that title is easily passed, even though the actions being called out are clearly wrong. For instance, Candace Owens carried out an investigation into the financial dealings of the Black Lives Matter movement that saw members of the management embezzle millions of donations in cash. But because she has a title that is so derogatory, many look past this information to consider her as a person not worth listening to.
In the end, the hard truth remains that the 21st-century Uncle Tom is considered the odd one out; the one who would rather not stand with the crowd; the one whose opinions are founded on principles that could be termed anti-black, even if such principles are beneficial to the black people as against what we choose to believe; the one who chooses a path different from the rest of the pack.
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