OPINION:
Gosh, it’s stifling to be a Democrat.
It’s stifling just to listen to Democrats.
According to Democrats: Blacks vote Democrat, Blacks support Democratic candidates, Blacks believe the Constitution is racist, Blacks think police hate minorities, Blacks know Whites are born into privilege and Blacks never receive a fair shake in America, not in education, not in economic opportunities and certainly not in the court system. And here’s the stifling part — anyone who argues differently, sees differently, dares ponder differently is either Not Black or BISCO — that is, Black In Skin Color Only. That is, Uncle Tom.
Stray from the party message at personal peril.
Just ask the GOP Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina.
Scott closed out the first night of the Republican National Convention with a rousing rendition of an America-the-great story, only to be torn apart by intolerants on Twitter the next day.
“Uncle Tom,” accused one, The Blaze noted.
“Sen. Tim Scott’s such an Uncle Tom,” wrote another, The Blaze again noted.
And look at this, a tweet from veteran Jack Posobiec: “Democrat @RepCohen [Tennessee] just liked a tweet saying Tim Scott ’might as well be white.’ “
Then there was the recent off-the-rails “Fox & Friends” interview of contributors Donna Brazile, former DNC chief, and Tammy Bruce, president of Independent Women’s Voice. The segment ended abruptly when an obviously perturbed Brazile took umbrage at the tone and direction of their discussion on race relations and began shouting such absurdities as, “[A]fter 400 years, my family cannot walk out of this house without fearing violence,” and “You ignore the pains of people that are hurting,” and then even this: “You do not recognize my existence.”
Disagree?
Whites who disagree are racist. Blacks who disagree are Uncle Toms.
Blacks who are Republicans are automatically Uncle Toms.
“Condoleezza Rice is an Uncle Tom,” wrote one contributor to the Miami New Times in September of 2012.
“Congressman stands by calling Clarence Thomas an ’Uncle Tom,’ ” USA Today wrote, in April of 2014, of the slur slung by Rep. Bennie Thompson, Mississippi Democrat, the Supreme Court justice’s way.
And this admission, from an NBC News editorial, “Black Men for Trump, What Makes Them Tick?” that was published in November of 2016: “It’s not unusual for black Democrat and Independent voters to look at their republican [sic; note the NBC bias, small “r”] counterparts with skepticism and dismissal, writing them off as sell-outs or an Uncle Tom.”
Right. Not unusual at all. In fact, it’s the usual. The normal. The frequent and commonplace.
But it doesn’t make it any less disgusting. Or ugly. Or confining. Or stifling.
The Democratic Party, without a doubt, has moved so far left that any semblance of John F. Kennedy moderation has been wiped clean, in favor of socialism masked as progressivism and Marxism masked as peaceful reform. But this “Uncle Tom” stuff has to stop.
Demanding Blacks be all one way and none another is the political equivalent of enslavement. It’s an enslavement of minds, of ideas, of free-thinking curiosity and education and independent analysis.
As Brazile herself might say: 400 years is enough.
Time for Democrats to free the Blacks from the party’s narrow list of expectations. Time for Democrats to let Blacks be who they want to be.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter by clicking HERE.
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