Amos Brown Calls Justice Clarence Thomas An "Uncle"

Radio talk show host Amos Brown has by this point become infamous for his constant race-baiting. Like so many liberal Democratic African-American leaders, he excoriates any black who dares to be a Republican or think conservatively like Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. In his column in this week's Indianapolis Recorder, Brown likens the U.S. Supreme Court's decision upholding Indiana's Voter ID law to the infamous Plessy v. Ferguson decision, a controversial landmark decision by the Court in 1896, which adopted the "Separate But Equal" doctrine later overturned by Brown v. Board of Education. Writing on the Voter ID decision, Brown takes aim at Justice Thomas for voting with the Court's majority:

It’s bad enough that Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita is gleeful because his straightjacket, heinous Voter ID Law will deny the vote to scores of Hoosiers Tuesday. Its worse that a Supreme Court dominated by Bush appointees, including Uncle (Clarence) Thomas upheld a bad law, the way the court upheld Plessy vs. Ferguson.

Brown's use of the word "Uncle" to describe Thomas is a play on the pejorative term, "Uncle Tom", used to describe a black person as behaving in a subservient manner to his white slave masters. Justice Clarence Thomas has described the thinking of Brown and other like him as "The New Intolerance." "As a black person, straying from the tenets of this orthodoxy meant that you were a traitor to your race," Thomas once explained in a speech. "You were not a 'real black' and you would be forced to pay for your ideological trespass, often through systematic character assassination -- the modern day version of the old public floggings," Thomas said. If Thomas could answer Brown, he would say this as he once spoke of this problem:

Does a man instantaneously become insensitive or a dupe or an Uncle Tom because he happens to disagree with the policy of Affirmative Action? Is it any more justified to hurl invectives at him for what he believes than to call him names for the color of his skin? In both instances, a man's reputation is disparaged and his name sullied. In neither instance is he treated as an individual. Is it really any more laudable to make a man afraid to express his views than it is to make him ashamed for the color of his skin? Does it make sense to criticize someone who says, "Blacks look alike," then praise someone who says that "All blacks should think alike?"

Amos Brown does a disservice to all African-Americans when he uses the term "Uncle" to describe Justice Thomas. While Brown is the first to accuse others of racial insensitivity, he is blinded by his hatred of fellow blacks who do not share his way of thinking on issues. Unfortunately, Brown can get by with saying things like this without receiving any admonishments from people within his community. As the publisher of the Indianapolis Recorder, 7th District congressional candidate Carolene Mays should apologize to Justice Thomas for Brown's offensive comment. I'm betting she won't as it was her decision to publish the offensive comment in her newspaper in the first instance.

On another Amos Brown note, he can be found complaining about a lack of visits to black communities by Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton in today's Star. "With 42 percent of the state's black voting population in Marion County, it does raise some eyebrows," said Amos Brown, host of the "Afternoons With Amos" show on WTLC-AM (1310). Translation--Brown is upset neither candidate stopped by to do an interview on his radio show.