Uncle Clinton?

Though I agree with Clinton Collins’ main point, that often blacks use the “Uncle Tom” accusation too broadly [Free the Jackson Five!, September], I think his analysis of why it occurs is too crude. Mr. Collins errs greatly by using Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as an example of someone who was called out by blacks, unfairly, only for thinking differently than us. Our determined shunning of Thomas is more reasonable than that. Though he opposes affirmative action, he accepted the top position held by an African American solely on the basis of his race. Unlike Colin Powell, who is a Republican and supports affirmative action, Thomas is a hypocrite. No intelligent person ever argued that he was the best candidate for that job. He was too young, he had left the EEOC with warehouses of backlogged cases, and his tenure as a judge was unremarkable. Yet, he was black and right-minded, and just what the white right needed to fill the shoes of a black justice. If that isn’t selling out then nothing is. What should concern us most as African Americans is what our people do with the power bestowed upon them. Unfortunately, it’s all too common for some of us to find a source of “enlightenment” that pays us to denounce our own. There is a literary anti-nigger machine that employs countless pundits to detail why black people are wrong about everything. Former liberal David Horowitz is making a killing being a venomous one-trick pony exposing in detail our political ignorance. It’s too bad many of us are following suit: Larry Elder is paid handsomely to constantly chastise us from his vantage point, as is Denver radio host Ken Hamblin, Armstrong Williams, Alan Keyes, and the list could go on. It’s important for blacks to keep tabs on those who constantly detract from our conventional wisdom. People like Justice Thomas are black as a euphemism, but they are paid by our moneyed white opposition for their work detracting and dividing us. Is it a coincidence that most of them find greater comfort in white neighborhoods, white churches, white think tanks, and white work places? Further, what should we make of the weird universal that they all have white wives? Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but… I appreciate Mr. Collins point that we shouldn’t hate on each other as much as we do, that we shouldn’t be so quick to stifle free speech, and that it could be dangerous to carelessly participate in our character assassination. I would just ask that he explain at what point should we call a spade a spade?

Rev. Christopher Rahelio Soleil
Minneapolis