LAL #014 — Move Over, Uncle Tom; Aunt Nancy’s In The House

Law and Legitimacy

Recall Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, written in 1852? It helped galvanize abolitionists in the 1850s. Even if you’ve not read the book, you’ve no doubt heard the term “Uncle Tom.” It’s an insult leveled against persons of color if they appear to show too tender a regard for the white folks. Times have changed.

In an era of Black Lives Matter, where largely affluent white folks have taken a loud and vocal leadership role, it’s time to ask whether we ought not to be calling out the Aunt Nancys in our midst — white folk who are the flip side of Uncle Toms, folks becoming obsequious in their efforts to seek the approval of black folks. The first Aunt Nancy Award goes, of course, to House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who beatified George Floyd, thanking him for his sacrifice for justice.

Pelosi's comments were an extraordinary of nonsense, worthy of little more than ridicule and contempt. George Floyd was hardly an example of what we should want to see on the streets. Nancy Pelosi, the first winner of the Aunt Nancy Award, becomes the new benchmark for white race pandering. In a better world, we’d turn to local politics and universal values of the sort written about by St. Augustine to build a better world. Indeed, that path is open to those with eyes to see and ears to hear. Augustine’s Confessions remains an indispensable guide in these troubled times. While the City of Man crumbles under the weight of those eager to rework the world in their own image, we are summoned to realize the limits of the possible, and to seek grace.

The City of God beckons, even in a fallen world.

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