By Vincent L. Hall
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime where of the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. – The 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution
Few laws in these “Yet to be United States” have no loopholes. The 13th Amendment is no exception. Like most rich White men, Donald Trump learned to keep to the letter of the 13th Amendment while exploiting the spirit of the same law. You can’t buy a Negro, but Negroes can be rented, leased, or otherwise held. Just ask Uncle Clarence Thomas!
Trump established his own Coon Platoon early on. He has enlisted a new set of soldiers after losing so many in past battles. Harrison William Prescott Floyd, aka “Willie Lewis Floyd,” is the latest to gain widespread notoriety. Parenthetically, you gotta be doing some major “Tomming,” when working for Massa requires a name change!
“Willie Boy’s” post as the Director of Black Voices for Trump has left him in the cotton fields right now. This mindless minion stands charged in Fulton County among the other 18 Trump co-conspirators. Everyone else visited DA Fani Willis, did some finger-painting, had their “Kodak moment,” and left. Apparently Trump didn’t front him bail money.
According to the Daily Mail. “The former director of Black Voices for Trump, Harrison Floyd, was the first of the 19 Fulton County defendants to be held in jail without bond.
He is accused of pressuring poll worker Ruby Freeman to confess to voter fraud crimes she didn’t commit, alongside a former publicist of Kanye West.
Floyd, 39, turned himself into the Fulton County, Georgia jail Thursday afternoon, after District Attorney Fani Willis gave former President Donald Trump and the other 18 co-conspirators in her election interference case until noon on Friday to show up.
Floyd didn’t negotiate a bond so remained in custody after being charged with “racketeering, conspiracy to solicit false statements and influencing witnesses.”
Uncle Tom typically suffers public shame worse than his master. Trump complained about the FBI, but “Willie Boy” allegedly tried to resist a subpoena. He is accused of body slamming one of the agents and verbally assaulting the pair. Trying to stop an Uncle Tom on a mission can be a triggering event.
For posterity and transparency, let me expand on the term Uncle Tom.
The urban dictionary that most millennials and younger Blacks consult is pretty straightforward.
Uncle Tom – A derogatory term for an African American individual who doesn’t stand up for racism, and who makes attempts to please “the white man.”
Malcolm X gave the best definition and contrast in a 1963 speech.
“So you have two types of Negro. The old type and the new type. Most of you know the old type. When you read about him in history during slavery he was called ‘Uncle Tom.’ He was the house Negro. And during slavery you had two Negroes. You had the house Negro and the field Negro.
The house Negro usually lived close to his master. He dressed like his master. He wore his master’s second-hand clothes.
He ate food that his master left on the table. And he lived in his master’s house–probably in the basement or the attic–but he still lived in the master’s house.
So now you have a twentieth-century-type of house Negro. A twentieth-century Uncle Tom. He’s just as much an Uncle Tom today as Uncle Tom was 100 and 200 years ago. Only he’s a modern Uncle Tom.
That Uncle Tom wore a hand-kerchief around his head. This Uncle Tom wears a top hat. He’s sharp. He dresses just like you do. He speaks the same phraseology, the same language.”
When Massa Trump says, ‘“Make America Great Again,” Willie Boy does what paid parrots do. Parrots, like an Uncle Tom, can only repeat what they heard.
The 13th Amendment abolished slavery, but Trump’s legal team read between the lines. You can’t buy a Negro, but it is legal and beneficial to rent or lease one. And Trump seems to get the most out of his Coon Platoon!
Vincent L. Hall is an author, activist, and an award-winning columnist.
