At a campaign event in Charlotte over the weekend featuring former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC), a Hagan surrogate called her Republican opponent, state House Speaker Thom Tillis an “Uncle Tom.”
The comments were first reported by local WFAE but did not generate national headlines until they were picked up by The Weekly Standard Tuesday morning.
According to WFAE, Alma Adams, a candidate for the 12th Congressional District seat, spoke before Hagan and Clinton, decrying Republicans in the state legislature.
“We need to send ‘Uncle Thom’ Tillis – that is, home and elect leaders who are going to stand up and speak up and necessary act up to get things done,” Adams said, WFAE reported.
“Uncle Tom” is a racially-charged epithet for a person who is excessively subservient to others, especially a black person subservient to white people. The phrase originates from a 1851 novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin about a Christ-like slave who is beaten to death after he refuses to disclose the whereabouts of three women slaves who escaped.
The local report noted that neither Hagan nor Clinton were on stage when she made her comments. Hagan spoke after Adams.
According to The Weekly Standard, despite the questionable language Clinton praised Adams, in addition to Hagan, when she spoke before the crowd.
“Let me add Alma Adams,” Hagan said, “because we need more women like her in Congress. We need her compassion and her common sense. We need her sartorial excellence. She’s going to shake things up. I think the Kay-Alma combination is really going to put North Carolina ahead of the parade.”
Watch (H/T TWS):
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