A Democratic state lawmaker had some harsh words for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas during a debate over a statue in his honor.
The Georgia Senate debated a bill on Wednesday that would place a statue of the justice in the state’s capitol. However, State Sen. Emanuel Jones (D) opposed the bill and criticized Thomas.
“In the Black community, we have an expression — and I don’t want to use this label too deeply here because I’m just trying to tell you what we have in the African American community,” Jones began. “When we talk about a person of color that goes back historically to the days of slavery and that person betraying his own community, we have a term in the Black community. That term that we use is called ‘Uncle Tom.'”
He went on:
“And ‘Uncle Tom’ is either a fictional or nonfictional character. I don’t really know the origins of ‘Uncle Tom.’ But it talks about a person who back during the days of slavery sold his soul to the slave masters. That’s the fictional story of an ‘Uncle Tom.”
Watch the video below:
Georgia State Sen. Emanuel Jones (D) calls U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas an “Uncle Tom” while opposing a bill to place a statue of Thomas at the capitol:
— The Recount (@therecount) February 15, 2023
“Y’all just don’t get it. And I don’t expect people of non-color to get the sensitivity that we feel.” pic.twitter.com/AzVxQr1UY9
Jones said, “When we think about a person in the Black community who’s accomplished, but yet [their] policies seek to subvert — some may even say suppress — the achievements and accomplishments of people of color, I couldn’t help but to think about that term.”
“Y’all just don’t get it. And I don’t expect people of non-color to get the sensitivity that we feel,” he added.
Former Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) tweeted, “The Left is so outraged by a proposal to build a statue of Clarence Thomas at the Georgia Capitol, that one unhinged lawmaker compared him to an ‘Uncle Tom’” who ‘sold his soul to the slave masters.’”
“Watch for yourself: the hatred and radicalism of the far-Left on full display,” she added.
The Left is so outraged by a proposal to build a statue of Clarence Thomas at the Georgia Capitol, that one unhinged lawmaker compared him to an “Uncle Tom” who “sold his soul to the slave masters.”
— Kelly Loeffler (@KLoeffler) February 14, 2023
Watch for yourself: the hatred and radicalism of the far-Left on full display. pic.twitter.com/dt1F7bYzoJ
Benjamin Weingarten, the deputy editor of RealClearInvestigations, wrote, “Disgusting.”
Disgusting https://t.co/7OxfJuVDLe
— Benjamin Weingarten (@bhweingarten) February 15, 2023
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) tweeted, “Speaks for itself.”
Speaks for itself. #StandWithClarenceThomas https://t.co/CuAR7HEC9v
— Chip Roy (@chiproytx) February 15, 2023
The Georgia Senate voted on Wednesday to pass the legislation. It will now head to the state House.