"Uncle Tom's Cabin," by abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe, was the second-best-selling book of the 19th century behind the Bible. It had a profound impact on attitudes toward slavery at the time, which some say had a hand in igniting the Civil War.
The book is less discussed today beyond the name of the titular character, Uncle Tom, which is typically used as an insult to black people who are allegedly too deferential to whites. For Dallas Terrell, a personal trainer in Huntsville, it didn't make sense why "Uncle Tom" was used derogatorily when, in the book, Tom is depicted as a loving, Christ-like character. That's what led Terrell to write his book "Who Kidnapped Uncle Tom and Why It Matters."
Terrell joined "1819 News: The Podcast" last week, where he explained why he wrote the book and how acting like Uncle Tom could help bridge the needless racial divide that still exists in politics today.
"This is a spiritual battle. This just isn't politics," Terrell said. "There is something deeper going on because the interesting thing is that you have very pro-white supremacist individuals in the 1850s who were against 'Uncle Tom.' And then you had individuals who were very pro-black in the 1900s, who were very, very anti-'Uncle Tom.' So I begin to look at that and think there has to be a spiritual element."
Terrell grew up in a conservative family but lived in St. Louis, Missouri, a "blue city." There, he said he saw firsthand how the left tries to use race to manipulate voters.
"I lived in a very liberal town run by liberals since the 1960s. And the city itself is basically almost not livable," he said. "So growing up around that, I understood that liberal policies were not the utopia that individuals would talk about. You know, we were sold on the idea that if you had a black mayor, if you had a black police chief, fire chief, council people, that everything would be great for people that looked like that."
Terrell said the only way to start fixing the divide in the country is for both sides of the political aisle to return to Christian values, like the ones exemplified by Uncle Tom.
"[Y]ou need Bible believing Christians in both parties in order to pull both parties back more toward not being extreme in certain areas where pride and power becomes the motivating factor for being in office but that individuals have a servant heart. And the example of Uncle Tom's, I call it, it's a servant-style leadership. And that's the kind of individual that we need to be attracting in public office, regardless of what color the people are."
He hopes his book will spark conversations that lead to a better understanding and that people will put aside their differences and reach out to their neighbors.
"[W]e have to wake up, we have to be able to have conversations that matter, where it doesn't devolve into calling each other names and then leave the door open for more conversations," he said. "...I've got to be able to walk across my lawn, talk to the guy who lives next door, and say, hey, we've got four problems on the street. You and I need to get together and address these problems with some of our other neighbors. That's when things start getting done. The answer is not in Montgomery, the answer is not in DC, the answer is not with your city council. The answer is right there on your street with your neighbors..."
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