Discussion about taz-headline: Is "Uncle Barack's Cabin" racist?

Not only in US-Blogs, but also at the taz newspaper itself the issue is heavily discussed: Is using the reference to "Uncle Tom's Cabin" when discussing Obamas nomination offensive? Two controversial opinions.

Is the White House Obamas cabin? Bild: taz

YES

When Barack Obama was born most blacks in the United States could not even vote. Today, one of them is on the point of conquering the presidency. Nothing could be further removed from this historic triumph than the literary figure of "Uncle Tom" - that simple, pious slave in the 19th century South who acquiesces in his fate, who likes his little cabin, who forgives his master even after brutal torture, who prefers to die rather than to betray or even join his fleeing comrades.

The novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin" is actually a burning indictment of slavery, but in US Afro-American discourse its hero has become the epitome of the subservient negro who accepts his condition instead of changing it. Today in the US an "Uncle Tom" is a traitor, a black who works for white interests. Calling somebody "Uncle Tom" is an insult. In today's context this characterisation has an curious history: When at the end of the 19the century the Democrats in the South upheld racial segregation together with the Ku Klux Klan, "Uncle Tom" was used to describe blacks who chose to desert the Republicans, then more progressive on citizens' rights, in favour of the Democrats.

So what could it mean to describe the White House in the event of a Democratic victory as "Uncle Barack's Cabin"? The discourse of infantile ultra-leftists, perhaps, or of disgraced preacher Jeremiah Wright, casting Obama as a traitor because he works within the system?

Using "Uncle Barack" to describe Obama's politics is nonsense. And as he is not even descended from slaves but from black Kenyans and white Americans, the literary reference "Uncle Tom" is not even remotely applicable to him - except if one regards it as sufficient that he is also (half) black. In which case the only common point is the colour of his skin and the only common framework a racist stereotype.

"Uncle Barack" is then the equivalent of the neo-conservative slogan "Obama = Osama", meaning Bin Laden and referring to Barack Obama's time in Muslim Indonesia and his second name Hussein. "Hussein's Cave" might have been an apt headline from this angle. Oh, you can't do that? How interesting. It requires remarkable brainlessness to think of "Uncle Tom" first when looking at the success of a black politician in the United States. BY DOMINIC JOHNSON

NO

From Bernd Pickert Thursday's edition of taz triggered fierce reactions: The headline "Uncle Barack's Cabin" was racist, we were accused. Comparing the democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama with the "uncle Tom" character from Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 novel is offensive and an insult to Obama and to all african americans, critics say. The "uncle Tom" from the novel is a black slave who tries to make good with his white owners. He relies on religiosity rather than standing up against slavery. He renounces his human condition as an active subject - almost.

After assisting two other slaves in their escape he denies the information about their whereabouts to the slave owner and gets killed for that. The author was a passionate abolitionist. Her novel was read all over the world as a call against the crime of slavery - not as a book about the stupidity of black people. In the United States the perception of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" has changed, especially since the black civil rights movement of the sixties. When the black population finally abandoned the role of suppressed victim, "Uncle Tom" became an insult, usually between blacks. The critics of our front page rely on this: To call Barack Obama "uncle Tom" is the last thing to do, they say, and I agree.

But what about calling the White House a "cabin"? This is the important thing about our front page, which is why there is an extra-large picture showing the center of political power in Washington D.C.. What contrast could be greater than that between the suppressed white-pleasing slave and the candidate for the highest office in the United States? Our front page is about this great story, the gradual overcoming of racist oppression in the US, for which Obama's nomination is undoubtedly a historic milestone. "Uncle Tom" and his slave's cabin finally belong to the past.

Does a frontpage about Obama have to refer to the colour of his skin at all? Reducing the political supertalent Barack Obama to being black would indeed be racist. But we would be painting the world too rosy if we pretended that the colour of his skin doesn't matter in these elections. After all: What was all the trouble about his former pastor Jeremiah Wright about? The headline combined with the majestic picture of the White House are our way to express that Uncle Tom's cabin belongs to the past - in the time of uncle Barack everything is different. It is a pity that this could be misunderstood. BY BERND PICKERT

Comments

[Jost Muxfeldt]

I find Bernd Pickert's response extremely contrived and unconvincing. Probably the TAZ's editors feel their intentions were not racist, but they nevertheless display an embarrassing ignorance of English idioms and language usage. I have observed over the years that German humor still remains insensitive to cultural and racial slurs which could never be published in an English language paper. The TAZ Headline, "LI MACHT PENG" is also one of these. An English language editor would get fired for something like that. I think that as we become more multicultural here in Germany, this may eventually improve. At the moment, I cringe at the phrases I hear from comedians, politicians, talk-show hosts, editors, who don't blink at generically referring to a "typical Turkish youth" as "Achmed", of publicly mocking the sound of Oriental (or other) languages and cultures, or of using "Uncle Tom" (even if ironically) in reference to a rising black political leader. Tell me TAZ editors, would you have dared to use that phrase for Martin Luther King?

 

Time for German language usage to catch up...

[Beate Kaebel]

Die Schlagzeile "Onkel Toms Huette" ist weder entschuldbar noch durch irgendwelches Hindrehen als "Satire" oder "Ironie" akzeptabel. Dass viele weisse Deutsche die verunglimpfende Bedeutung, die der Terminus "Uncle Tom" fuer die Betroffenen, also Afroamerikaner und andere Menschen afrikanischer Herkunft, auch in Deutschland, hat, nicht kennen, ist schlimm. Viel schlimmer noch ist es aber, dass Leute, die diese Bedeutung kennen und ueberdies in den Medien taetig sind, also eine besondere Verantwortung haben, sich in bester paternalistisch-rassistischer Tradition eiskalt ueber die Sensibilitaeten der durch diesen Uebergriff Herabgewuerdigten hinwegsetzen - weil SIE es ja besser wissen, ihre eigenen, hoeheren Ziele und Beweggruende haben, kurzum ueber all dem (und denen) stehen: so richtiges Herrenmenschengehabe eben.

[John Doe]

Congratulations, your story was picked up by the Colbert Report last night:

 

"[...] A lot of people were offended by this, but die tageszeitung claims the headline was merely an attempt at satire. Now as a rule: Germans shouldn't do humor."

[marc]

'Uncle Tom' is a racial slur, and the Taz editors clearly sacrificed substance and principle for an unreflected laugh.

[Joe Noory]

I think it speaks to a kind of ignorance of American culture unique to Europeans, and rare among Germans. It's not supposed to be something we talk about - we are, after all talking about a continent of people so touchy that one little phrase "old Europe"/"new Europe" still evokes a defensive reaction.

[Gringo Tex]

For those Germans who believe that blacks in the US do not consider the term “Uncle Tom” to be insulting, Taz should provide a selected group of Germans with all-expenses paid trips to the US. Drop them off in black neighborhoods. Harlem or Bed-Stuy in New York, Roxbury in Boston, Anacostia in DC, South Side in Chicago. Wherever, whatever. Instruct the Germans to strike up conversations with black/Afro-American males, the bigger and more muscular the better, and have the German call the black/Afro-American male(s) “Uncle Tom(s)". Document the time it takes for the Germans to suffer grievous bodily harm after calling a black/Afro-American male an “Uncle Tom.” Prediction: well under 10 seconds, on the average.

[Hans Rudolf Velten]

Danke für den schönen Titel, der mir aus dem Herzen gesprochen hat. Die Kritik halte ich für überzogen und überheblich: es gibt eben in Deutschland ein kulturelles Imaginäres, das mit dem Namen "Onkel Tom" verbunden ist, und das ist Freiheit von der Sklaverei. Wenn sich der Diskurs zu Onkel Tom in den USA weiterentwickelt bzw. negativiert hat, ist das noch lange kein Grund, diesem kulturellen Imaginären die Daseinsberechtigung abzusprechen. Alles andere käme einer Gleichschaltung der Diskurse gleich.