“Tell your ni**a jokes while he’s in the room, he gon’ laugh harder than you cause he’s a coon.”
-Willie D of the Geto Boys
In every liberation movement there are traitors. There are always those whose fear of the enemy outweighs their desire for freedom, justice and equality. It is this fear that causes them to “sell-out” the interest of the whole in order to gain personal favors which usually amount to “crumbs” on the table. Ants are the most effective in organized productivity, because they instinctively understand that no single ant is more important than the colony. This truth rings even louder and clearer when it comes to the liberation of a people who have been lost from their native land for 461 years. No single individual is more important than the freedom of the entire nation.
However, we must understand that anything of great value is always met with great opposition. The greatest of this opposition usually comes from within. For every Jesus, there is a Judas. For every Caesar, there is a Brutus. There will always be those who will sell out the future of our people for a bucket of chicken, a side of biscuits and a corn on the cob. And just as Judas ended up returning the 30 pieces of silver he received for selling out Jesus, most traitors fail miserably and end up empty handed. This is why we don’t worry about them, but at the same time, we acknowledge that they are dangerous to our progress.
Most sell-out Negroes are simply miseducated, uninformed and fooled into believing that their enemy is their friend. It’s safe to say that we have entered into a new age of Black consciousness. At the same time, we’ve also entered into a new age of Black “coonery” and tomfoolery. We must make sure that this mentality is not passed onto the next generation. In order to properly handle this mindset you must first know how to recognize it when it’s in your midst. Here are a few things to look for.
- THEIR USE OF LANGUAGE– A sell-out Negro will always speak independently of his or her own people. The word WE is hardly ever employed. When referring to their own people they use terms like “they” or “yall.” They make statements like “Black people need to stop complaining about everything.” You can always spot a weak-minded Negro by the language he or she uses.
- GO VOTE! (The answer to EVERYTHING?) – It does not matter what problems arise in the Black community, this person believes that voting is the panacea and will even go as far as saying that people who don’t vote don’t have the right to complain. This is the Uncle Tom’s way of washing his hands of the masses. I agree that voting is important and can be a very powerful tool, if used properly. But VOTING IS NOT THE ANSWER TO EVERYTHING. When this person is presented with a social issue that he or she does not have a solution for, they simply ask, “Did you vote?” If the answer is no, they dismiss you. They see voting as the “social Tylenol” that relieves all headaches. It is not.
- NAME DROPPING – A person who feels they have to constantly mention the names of influential people (particularly White ones) in order to bring credibility to their own is what I call a chronic “name dropper.” They have to mention the politicians they know and the mega-church preachers they have lunch with weekly. It is their way of establishing superiority over you in a conversation. It is also a form a self-loathing and indicative of an inferiority complex. Be mindful of the name dropper.
- THE WHISPERER – When topics like slavery or reparations come up they start to whisper, even if no one else is within earshot. They cringe when others publicly use words like “WHITE PEOPLE.” They’d prefer terms like “vanilla” or “our ivory brothers and sisters.” The Uncle Tom Negro is easily embarrassed by any utterance of protest, resistance or activist activity. They’re happy to converse with you about Dr. King but break out in hives when you mention names like Nat Turner or Assata Shakur.
- OVERLY CRITICAL – They are overly critical of their own people. If a Black brother or sister is shot by law enforcement, the Uncle Tom Negro asks questions like “I wonder what he did to deserve it.” They don’t even wait for the facts. They criticize every little flaw associated with a Black-owned business, as if other businesses don’t have the same or similar flaws. In the eyes of a sell-out Negro, Black people are always guilty until proven innocent.
- PROFESSIONAL APOLOGISTS – Just as they are overly critical of their own people, they are supremely apologetic when it comes to the evils committed by the oppressor. Some will go as far as justifying slavery using the scriptures. They are the “public defenders” for White supremacy and the “go-to Negroes” when damage control is needed to wash the blood off of White hands. They are quick to forgive White folks, but won’t forgive members of their own family for offenses they can’t even remember.
- REVERSE RACE CARD – The Uncle Tom Negro is quick to accuse another Black person of being a racist; as if though the descendants of slaves currently have the power to do to White people what was done to our ancestors. This is only reverse psychology. It is their way of currying favor with their White benefactors and dodging their duty to stand up to institutionalized racism. They are too cowardly to stand up to the real racist so they accuse the victim of racism of being the source of the problem.
- When in the presence of Europeans, they tend to laugh at jokes that aren’t funny, shed tears for causes they know nothing about and sympathize with other communities concerning the very issues they pay no attention to in their own community.
- He believes wholeheartedly that the White man’s ice is colder. He proudly spends his Black dollars with White businesses regardless of how it impacts his community. Black business owners and entrepreneurs can do nothing right in the eyes of the sell-out Negro. The illusion of inclusion makes him to think he is considered an equal in the sight of his Caucasian contemporaries. Time usually proves him wrong. Time is always the great equalizer.
- He thinks he can buy respect and honor. He thinks he can buy the loyalty of the hood. Since he (or she) has a price, the assumption is that all Black people have one. They use money as a tool to neutralize any potential resistance in the community. The Uncle Tom Negro usually only comes around when they have a specific agenda. His relationship with his community does not extend past what it can do for him.
Note: These are just a few traits I recognize as being dangerous to the Black agenda. Notice I didn’t call any names. The first person that we must take a look at is the person in the mirror. Then we must rid our culture of all coonery and buffoonery through the spread of knowledge, wisdom and understanding. Support the war against “coonin.”
{Deric Muhammad is a Houston-based activist. Website: www.dericmuhammad.com}