Since Uncle Tom is trending, let me just say something I've always wanted to say (former Ph.D in literature speaking now): stopping besmirching the name of Uncle Tom by comparing him to sellout black folks. Just stop. /1

The character Uncle Tom from the abolitionist novel was the hero. He literally sacrificed his life for two black women slaves who'd escaped. He refused to reveal anything about their escape even though he knew doing so would result in him being beaten to death. /2

Tell me, does that sound like the behavior of a sellout? No.

If any of y'all had actually read the damn book, you'd know that the character you really mean when referring to a sellout is Sambo.

Get your facts right. /3

Do you know why Uncle Tom became a slur for sellout black folks?

Because racist ass whites were determined to undermine the importance of that character that some historians have credited with accelerating the sentiment against slavery. /4

So, those racist whites decided they'd make a bunch of shitty children's books and plays based off the book and, in doing so, warp the character to basically make him a semi-villain (or, at the very least, a super servile slave with no courageous bone in his body). /5

Well, because Americans don't fucking read, it worked like a charm.

Uncle Tom truly was ground-breaking in the original story. To watch him sacrifice his life to protect two black women. Think about the power of that.

That's why racists destroyed the character. /6

So, for the love of god and baby buddha, I'm begging y'all to stop using Uncle Tom as a slur.

Read.

That's all.

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93059468

P.S. Yes, I've written about how racists nefariously bastardized Uncle Tom's Cabin, so this is a sore spot for me. Sorry for the rant.