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, and who often rubber stamps white supremacist notions about the inherent superority of whites and its corrollary -- the inherent inferiority of blacks. "Uncle Toms" are perceived by some blacks to take the side of whites when there is an injustice against African-Americans. 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.
Blacks, however, object to Tom's passivity, willing subservience and complete lack of outrage at his enslavement, and to the paternalism of Stowe's loyal, patient, long-suffering stereotype. 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, an 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 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. Well-liked and trusted slaves often were given coveted, less physically demanding duties to perform. They also tended to be watched less closely, allowing them opportunities to escape to freedom or to engage in clandestine acts of defiance. A "Tomming" fieldhand might have an opportunity to set cash crops on fire. A happy and generous cook could exact a slow and agonizing death from her master by lacing his meals with finely ground glass.
This practice of masking defiance with accommodation and civility persists to this day in the face of persistent racism and race-based discrimination. As in years past, Tomming can be a defense of private autonomy in the face of social prejudice, 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.
Similar views, pro and con, adhere to the expression acting white. Another term along the same lines 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 politically active 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, proto-nationalist, 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.