Was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr ..Day 2

Character. For example within the African-American community, the term Uncle Tom is bantered about as a negative term. Uncle Tom was born into slavery therefore he was considered less than human, but instead of just being called the N-word, Tom was given a male title. Uncle elevated Tom beyond the childlike name of boy to a trusted male rite of passage into manhood. This was a limited manhood mind you, but Uncle Tom could be trusted but lacked a last name.

So, to get beyond the stereotype of Uncle Tom, as negative, one must look to the positive traits of the human being as Uncle Tom during slavery, instead of internalizing the negative portrayal of an Uncle Tom. For example, Dr. King, Jr. as an Uncle Tom would be based upon the positive charactistics of Uncle Tom as the human being rather than his status as a slave, A slave symbolizes one lacking the qualities of a human being. Instead of internalizing the labeling it is better to identify with the traits, trust, the self-sacrificing and the uplifting of others.

Dr. King, Jr. did this with his life for others to move into a place beyond segregation which included the right to vote and economical power. The negative connotations of manhood was created to separate the wheat from the shaft and a way of creating division about us as to who is more worthy among us as African-Americans.

Uncle Tom was deemed more worthy among those who engaged in slavery. Uncle Tom was elevated to humanness based simply on the fact that those who dealt in slavery, were able to see his human characteristics, Tom's honesty and trustworthy, something not seen in a simple slave. Uncle Tom was an extra ordinary human being to still be able to hold onto human characteristic in spite of what others perceived him as being..less than human under the most extreme hardships. Uncle Tom was more than the labels placed upon him by the world that deemed him a slave.

Uncle Tom was given responsibility over others who were enslaved and with the same trustworthy and honesty, he treated them in the same manner as he would want to be treated. Tom's character showed compassion for others especially those who were enslaved because he had first hand knowledge as to what it meant to be treated as less than human being because of the label, slave. But more important, Tom showed compassion for those who mistreated him. Tom defined who he was, not those who mistreated him, his character.

to be continued