A friend: So Kanye isn’t black now?
Most people who use the term Uncle Tom, never read the book from which it was derived, Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
The slave Thomas was written to be the hero because of the character’s unconditional Christian-faith-driven love for people including his masters. Even as they savagely beat him to death, he uttered forgiveness in his dying words.
He became a literary device that reinforced the view that a “good negro” knew his place and should accept it as God’s will like Tom.
However, in our community, he is viewed as a symbol of shameful submission, cowardice wrapped in the guise of selfless faith that permits racists to feel good about the brutality and evils of slavery. It perpetuated the moral flexibility that allows black people to suffer unapologetically to this very day. [Think jury acquittals for cops killing African Americans.]
So when people, especially Black, read many of Kanye’s tweets, we see examples of the same selfish moral dynamic. It’s not about politics, it’s about the message that he is projecting – that we should be fine with things that are morally reprehensible by aligning himself with someone who represents the very worst of us all.
While you may have experienced racism and oppression, your story is not ours and you have no vote in how we should feel about things that hurt us in such an exclusive way.
It’s a Black thing, you don’t have to agree or understand it. We are not looking for, nor are we in need of your approval.
