Left-wing actor and Marvel Studios superstar Samuel L. Jackson took to social media ahead of the final World Cup game to accuse Argentina of being “historically racist” and suggesting that any black person who supports Team Argentina is a race traitor.
Jackson shared a message on his Instagram Stories the day that Argentina lost to Spain at the World Cup on July 19. The post was addressed “Dear Black People,” and went on to demand that blacks boycott Argentina. Jackson added that “Argentina has historically been one of, of not the most racist countries in the world.”
He then added, “If you are a Black person cheering for Argentina, this is what you look like to me.”
Under that, the post contained an image of Samuel L. Jackson as his “Stephen” character in the film Django Unchained, but wearing a Team Argentina jersey.
Instagram//samuelljackson
Jackson’s Django Unchained character was a self-loathing black man who worked to keep his white master in power. He was presented as the modern version of an Uncle Tom.
Of course, that actual Uncle Tom in the famed book Uncle Tom’s Cabin published in 1852, a decade before the Civil War, was not a bowing and scraping, self-loathing character at all. In the book, he is a noble hero and a praiseworthy Christian man who stands up for his fellows and refuses to betray them to his white masters.
But later into the 1900s, the character became a weapon used against black people and the name “Uncle Tom” became an epithet representing a black man who grovels before whites for their favor. In traveling minstrel shows — featuring white actors in black face — the character was more often portrayed as a weak, subservient slave who sold out his race to white masters. And blacks themselves began using the name to attack other blacks who were accused of favoring white people.
In the end, Spain beat Argentina in the World Cup with a 1-0 extra time final score to win their second World Cup title against the then reigning world champs.
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