ARE BLACK CONSERVATIVES "UNCLE TOMS"? YES ...

Vanity (But Published by FrontPageMag.com) ^ | Today | MAKnight

[dubyagee]

Excellent bump...

[MAKnight]

The author is me, first of all.

And I disagree with your position on "responsibility". As Conservatives, we have the responsibility to spread Conservatism. And considering that the black community is precisely where Conservatism is needed most today, and considering that it is our community, then we do have a responsibility to promote conservatism over there.

And second, as a Conservative, you must believe this statements, "The only thing necessary for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing ..." What the Left (especially the Black Left) is doing to the reputations of black Conservatives is evil and more vicious than anything done to a white Conservative.

It is therefore, doubly important that we defend black Conservatives. Because (1) it is the right thing to do and (2) the minority community is our next frontier. And like it, or not, we black Conservatives are the leading vanguard.

[conservativemusician]

I'm not so sure I'd a moral responsibility imposed solely by color is what he's getting at.

I believe he's about getting the message out to those who never hear it, rallying prominent black conservatives to help deliver the message, and showing people who have been force fed leftist drivel for generations that there is an alternative.

[MAKnight]

Thanks ... you put it better than I did.

[Smedley]

As an attorney, I've seen well-educated black attorneys state that they actually believed black chuches would burn with the Republicans in power, and that the Republicans had a long history of pulling racial shenanigans.

I've politely asked such things as "can you name something specific that a Republican has done in the last 30 years?"

The universal answer is that "nothing specific comes to mind, but there's a lot of stuff..."

I keep asking for specifics, I keep getting garbage.

The Democratic mindwashing machine worked better that anyone could have believed. This wall of willful ignorance and mindless prejudice will take decades to dismantle. Best keep at it because the Democrats will never stop with the lies.

[dirtboy]

As I was getting on the bus to get home the next day, one of them suddenly came onto the bus and sat opposite me. He was the one who had spat at my feet, so I got prepared for trouble. But what he said to me surprised me completely. "I'm a Republican too." So I asked him exactly why he didn't stand up for me the day before and he answered "I have to work with these guys everyday, y'know."

The use of peer pressure to enforce conformity. Some of us outgrew that after high school...

[conservativemusician]

Actually I was about to say the same thing to you!

It is an eloquent and powerful essay. Some of the people you name (Sowell, Rice, Thomas, Watts) are personal favorites of mine. You might want to add Shelby Steele. The man is brilliant.

I'm inspired and I'm a white guy from NY!

[BuddhaBoy]

As Conservatives, we have the responsibility to spread Conservatism.

No, we dont.

Conservatism is not some religion that we can simply spread to the masses behind some message or messenger. It is a set of values, which either are in sync with individuals or not. You are not going to be able to provide information in a form that creates a form of enlightenment. My experience is that Black Conservatives usually wake up and realize that they are not Liberal, and decide to make that fact known.

No message is going to change the mind of someone born of a victim mentality, within a culture that excuses failure as someone else's fault. The message of Rights without Responsibility is the hallmark of the Liberal agenda, and for born victims, you cant beat it with a message of hard work and personal responsibility for only the opportunity for success, and not the PROMISE.

Conservatism needs no defense, and I question those who feel that they must somehow defend what has already been granted to us by our Constitution. Conservatives need not apologize or explain their positions as opinions, because they are not beliefs, they are VALUES.

Those of like-values will either recognize their true position on important issues, or they will cower away, and go along with the group-think mentality. The latter are people that Conservatives neither need or want. No true Black Conservative is silent about their position, and they/we dont need protection, as much as we need to uphold those ideals of SELF-determination. I would not be a Conservative, if I needed the support of anyone else in order to believe what I believe. My values didnt come from information, they came from within.

[Poohbah]

Depends on the kind of "peer pressure."

The prospect of getting your tires slashed might make you a tad more...restrained...in expressing your opinions.

[AnAmericanMother]

Uncle Tom was in fact, an admirable, Christ-like figure

Well! I'm glad somebody else finally noticed that. Tom's patient defiance and spiritual independence - "No! no! no! my soul an't yours, Mas'r! You haven't bought it--ye can't buy it! It's been bought and paid for by One that is able to keep it. No matter, no matter, you can't harm me!" - was definitely NOT the "Uncle Tom" of legend.

Problem is, Harriet Stowe's book is very difficult to read by modern standards. It's long, it's often bombastic, the dialogue is laughable (she was born & bred New England and had no idea how people talked in the South, black or white), it's full of overt evangelical preaching (her daddy was a red-hot and controversial preacher after all), and it's extremely sentimental. So hardly anybody has read it (except those of us who read it for History -- my concentration was military history in general and the War (yes, THAT war) in particular.)

But there is no question that Stowe fully intended Tom to be an analogue of Christ as the bringer of redemption through suffering. (She even SAID so in her letters.) Stowe never intended to be "the little lady that started this big war," as Lincoln quipped, she truly believed that demonstration of the goodness and suffering of men and women like Tom and Eliza would turn the hearts of the nation.

[dirtboy]

The prospect of getting your tires slashed might make you a tad more...restrained...in expressing your opinions.

That ain't peer pressure, that's harassment. I'm talking about being unwilling to go against the will of the group...

[Bogolyubski]

You're a brave person, MAKnight - I remember reading this article on Frontpage about a year ago and was struck at the level of vicious slander directed at black conservatives. While the points you raise are very important, don't be too hard on yourself. The left started destroying the emerging post-slavery black, Christian culture in the 1920s through the work of the communist WEB Dubois and his white Marxist comrades who ran the NAACP for years. (I believe wealthy white leftists still are a major source of funding - and control - of the NAACP.) I suspect that the campaign they started back then was a prototype or model for the left's destruction of the overall American culture/society/families that is well underway now. There is a conservative named Elizabeth Wright who has written about some of these issues with great insight. Leftism is a cancer that eats at society from within and will only be defeated through prayer and consistent, passionate, long-term effort. Keep up the good fight!

[Saundra Duffy]

African-Americans are "shoe-shiners" for White, wealthy democrats. AND YOU KNOW IT'S TRUE!!!

[mitchbert]

Folks, sorry if this a stupid question that indicates an ignorance of Black American history, but how in the heck did this man's moniker become an epithet to so many people?

Josiah Henson was born a slave on 15th June, 1789 in Charles County, Maryland. He was sold three times before he reached the age of eighteen. By 1830, Henson had saved up $350 to purchase his freedom. After giving his master the money he was told that the price had increased to $1,000. Cheated of his money, Henson decided to escape with his wife and four children. After reaching Canada, Henson formed a community where he taught other ex-slaves how to be successful farmers. His autobiography, The Life of Josiah Henson (1849) was read by Harriet Beecher Stowe and inspired her best-selling novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin

I've never been given a coherant reason for this. If anyone would like to educate me I'm all ears (eyes?).

Josiah Henson settled only a few miles from my hometown, Chatham, Ontario. In the mid-1800's our city, which was a significant farming and military town on the Thames River (they're still pulling War of 1812 cannon shot out of it) was over 40% Black, and still retains a large and proud community today (home of Fergie Jenkins, for you baseball fans). The only times I ever heard anyone in Chatham, black, white, whatever, refer to "Uncle Tom" it was with pride.

I just don't get it.

[bourbon]

Thank you for posting this! It's a powerful, well-considered and very inspiring piece!

I do have a question though. Could you explain the Jean Cobbs situation in more detail. I haven't heard of her before, and I'm interested in learning about her plight.

[x]

Great article.

[JimRed]

Middle class white guy bump for the content of your character!

[MEGoody]

"And maybe, soon, I would no longer feel like we are all such traitors."

Don't feel like a traitor. You only want what is best for all people - to be able to work hard and take care of themselves. The Dems want only to make blacks so dependent on the state they can enslave them again. After all, it was the Dems who wanted to keep blacks as slaves - it was the Republicans that wanted them to be free.

[Txslady]

It is from knowledge that you have this belief. Why can't we speak to those who have been told lies for so long? Give them the knowledge that you or I have. I don’t think there is anything wrong with that. Why keep it to yourself.

I have a child... should I not teach him what it means to be a conservative? Should I let him believe the lies that others have said for so long? I feel it is my responsibility to teach others like me who otherwise would never know the truth.

As it is said: The Truth will set you free!

MAKnight… thanks for the sharing your article! I have been reading the different post since this morning. Trying to think about how I would want to respond. I’m white not black. Yet we are both made from the same God. Sometimes I don’t feel I can voice my opinion about something I don’t know a whole lot about. This post has given me the opportunity to do so.