Leftists took issue with Scott saying “America is not a racist country.” So they began to attack Scott with a racist term to prove racism still exists.
After South Carolina Senator Tim Scott gave the GOP response to President Joe Biden's State of the Union address on Wednesday night, the leftist pundit-sphere began calling him "Uncle Tim." Leftists took issue with Scott saying "America is not a racist country." So they began to attack Scott with a racist term to prove racism still exists.
The insult of "Uncle Tim" is a take-off on the character of Uncle Tom from Harriet Beecher Stowe's abolitionist novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. The character was enslaved, and while he helped others escape, he was unable to get out of chains himself.
Bree Newsome of Black Lives Matter said that calling Scott "Uncle Tim" isn't racist because Scott said the US isn't a racist country.
How can calling Tim Scott “Uncle Tim” be racist when he just told everyone this isn’t a racist country? ???
— DEFUND & ABOLISH POLICE, REFUND OUR COMMUNITIES (@BreeNewsome)
Others were straight-up cruel with regard to their references, using imagery from a Trump rally in Washington, DC on Jan. 6
#UncleTim Scott said America is not a racist society and that this is just a porch swing.
— Little Italy Fotografia (@LittleItalyPic)
TV personality Scott Nevins tried to walk back his use of the "Uncle Tim," but it turns out that he's used the term "Uncle Tom" for black people he disagreed with in the past.
Tonight I tried to do an ironic joke about Sen Tim Scott using the term “Uncle Tom” in his rebuttal. While I was shocked by his lack of self awareness, I should not have used that term myself, even in reference. That was not right. I apologize.
— Scott Nevins (@ScottNevins)
Sean Davis from The Federalist had receipts.
Hooooo boy https://t.co/LfWw9FTIK1
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson)
Political commentator Tim Pool noted that Twitter, which is normally so quick to ban, suppress, and monitor, was apparently totally cool with having a racial slur trend. In a statement to Fox News obtained shortly after, Twitter announced that the trend would be blocked from the site's Trends tab.
.@Twitter statement to @FoxNews : "we are blocking the phrase you referenced from appearing in Trends. This is in line with our policies on Trends, specifically: We want Trends to promote healthy conversations on Twitter."
— John Roberts (@johnrobertsFox)
While author Marc Lamont Hill slammed liberals for calling Scott an "Uncle Tom," Turning Point USA's Rob Smith said it's better that it should be known how these liberals really think.
I disagree.
Let them lay their racism bare out in the open for all to see.
And to let *you* know what they would truly think of you should you ever change your point of view. https://t.co/HWmmSfY3PC
— Rob Smith ?? (@robsmithonline)
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Keith Olbermann weighed in to contradict Scott's claims, and used Scott's own experiences to do it. Then he said that Scott was like a kidnapping victim who comes to love his abductors, indicating that Olbermann does not believe the senator can think or act for himself, but is a victim of coercion and manipulation.
Sen. Scott insisting America is not racist but our healing from racism isn’t finished and he’s been called racist names.
Incidentally, Senator, anybody calls you the N-word is a friend of Trump’s. We progressives refer to you as a victim of Stockholm Syndrome. https://t.co/rnSpvOQS9x
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann)
The Root's Michael Harriot also went for it.
In my defense I actually said “Uncle TIM.”
And he was talking about his nephews!
— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot)
The Spectator US' Stephen Miller opined that a Washington Post fact check would undoubtedly reveal that Tim Scott is an "Uncle Tim" to his nephews.
"We looked into Uncle Tim, and as it turns out, Tim Scott is, in fact, an Uncle to his is brother Ben's children, so Uncle Tim is factually true. " - Washington Post Fact Check later today.
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze)
Scott was recently blasted by the Washington Post's resident fact-checker Glenn Kessler over claims Scott made about his ancestry, such as that his grandfather left school in the third grade—Kessler found out that it was actually the fourth grade.
And activist Erin Maye Quade said that "not all skinfolk are kinfolk."
Not all skinfolk are kinfolk
— Erin Maye Quade (@ErinMayeQuade)
One woman said that racists are loving "Uncle Tim," seemingly not aware that she was being racist in using the term.
Tim Scott does NOT represent black people. He knows he is not liked, admired or respected in the greater black community. Saying there is no racism in AM is ignorant. It's part of the Republican lie. Am's racist are just loving Uncle Tim..
— Charmaine (@charmage)
Much pushback from the left against Scott's speech was that critique that Scott doesn't speak for all black people, but this critique misses the point, which is that conservatives don't believe that any one person can speak for an entire group of people that are classified solely by their skin color.
Scott most likely speaks for himself, the people of South Carolina, and last night, he spoke for the GOP.
