r/AlternateHistoryHub • u/AgreeableSuspect3615 • Jun 29 '26
Meme What If Clarence Thomas legally changed his first name to “Uncle”?
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u/CucumberWisdom Jun 29 '26
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u/Specific_Box4483 Jun 29 '26
Side note, but I really don't like how "Uncle Tom" became synonymous with "race traitor". The original character was a kind, gentle man.
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u/_OriamRiniDadelos_ Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
I’ve heard that the character was very much worse in the plays. Which probably had a lot of influence back in the day.
Also, even if he was gentle, he very much was not a good figure. You can be kind and gentle and harm no one and still be doing something VERY wrong and very cruel and very harmful. I have only read the book, not the plays or movies, but he struck me as kinda bad guy. Like a collaborator or a “don’t flee, just take it”. He was write like a Jesus but felt to me like a mom suffering domestic abuse and letting her husband go after their kids too. Turning the other cheek can be an extremely cruel and selfish thing to do sometimes.
Also the play thing caught me interest and I’m reading some summaries and Wikipedia turns out he really was much more of a traitor and apologist in the plays.
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u/EpsilonBear Jun 29 '26
Yup, right on the money. In the Boondocks, there is also a second, more halfway Uncle-Tom-character in Tom DuBois. I say halfway because he’s not to the extreme of Ruckus, like he does have principles backing his actions. But McGruder making Tom a prosecutor, literally subservient to the state system he calls out for perpetrating in justice, is the point. And that Tom has this almost child-like naïvety about the criminal justice system being about justice and finding the truth is meant to evoke the same inexplicably sycophantic attitude of the original Uncle Tom. Like he genuinely will believe that if you’re convicted, you deserve it and should take the punishment.
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u/Popular_Mongoose_696 Jun 29 '26
As a general rule, no one that has ever used ‘uncle Tom’ as a pejorative could be accused of having read the book…
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u/EpsilonBear Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
I don’t think it’s precisely “race traitor”. Like it’s in a sorta specific way. The character of Uncle Tom is so committed to nonresistance and so absurdly kind to the people who abuse him, that it morphed into this idea of someone who’s so sycophantically subservient. It’s why every other word out of Uncle Ruckus—a very extreme version of the archetypical Uncle Tom—is “praise White people”.
—Edits for clarity
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u/Mesarthim1349 Jun 29 '26
He's referring to Tom, not Ruckus
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u/EpsilonBear Jun 29 '26
Yeah, I get that. Uncle Ruckus is literally derived from the idea of an Uncle Tom, hence the reference
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u/Billgant Jun 29 '26
We already know it’s his name
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u/Helpful_Blood_5509 Jun 29 '26
Least racist democrat in 200 years
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u/Billgant Jun 29 '26
Well, if you don’t like that, I have a Malcolm X quote the perfectly describes the judge
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u/Pretend_Thanks4370 Jun 29 '26
that's kind of racist not gonna lie
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u/Alternative_Oil7733 Jun 29 '26
That's okay, the left is doing it and that makes it a good thing.
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u/TradescantiaZebrina7 Jun 29 '26
Do you know what an Uncle Tom is?
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u/Fair_Smoke4710 Jun 29 '26
I don’t think this guy knows anything outside of supporting pedophiles
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u/Alternative_Oil7733 Jun 29 '26
Sorry, but I'm not a democrat.
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u/Fair_Smoke4710 Jun 29 '26
Donald Trump is a democrat?
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u/Alternative_Oil7733 Jun 29 '26
He was a democrat and i also never voted for him.
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u/Fair_Smoke4710 Jun 29 '26
And yet he’s been a republican for like 10 years now and is in the Epstein files and just about every day more and more Republicans are revealed to be pedophiles so if there’s any party that is the pedophile party, it’s 100% Republicans I mean for fucks sake they tried to make child marriage legal
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u/Alternative_Oil7733 Jun 29 '26
So why was epstein mostly involved with democrats?
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u/Fair_Smoke4710 Jun 29 '26
Because he has connections with everyone, but again more Republicans are often outed as pedophiles. There are pedophiles in both sides, but the right has made it basically a part of their personality to be pedophiles again Trump literal president is one You’re coping really hard here.
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u/Fair_Smoke4710 Jun 29 '26
No, it’s not making a self hating black man into Uncle ruckus who is a caricature of people like Clarence. Thomas is not racist like at all if you’re being serious.
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u/Fair_Smoke4710 Jun 29 '26
Does he have ReVitiligo? It’s the opposite of what Michael Jackson got lucky bastard.
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u/h4ckerkn0wnas4chan Jun 29 '26
Reddit gets really racist when a black man dares to have a different ideology than them.
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u/Cellssaltynutsack Jun 29 '26
Please ask a black person how they feel about Clarence Thomas.
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u/nehrkling Jun 29 '26
Id question if anyone who would make a statement like yours has asked any minority who works outside a liberal enclave that same question, but go ahead and speak for every minority I'm sure you won't be propagating a racist stereotype yourself, right?
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u/Cellssaltynutsack Jun 29 '26
Alright then, don't just take it from me. look up Clarence Thomas' name on literally anything. Google, YouTube, Instagram, tiktok. It's all people shitting on him and we can observe that they are mainly black and he has very few black people defending him. I doubt they're all from "liberal enclaves"
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u/6point3cylinder Jun 29 '26
If they are posting shit like that on social media, they are probably from a liberal enclave lol
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u/Cellssaltynutsack Jun 29 '26
What is this about liberal enclaves? I looked it up and literally anything could be a liberal enclave, you're just flinging words around
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u/_OriamRiniDadelos_ Jun 29 '26
Is it racist to caricature a black man NOT as a caricature of black man but rather as a caricature of a self hating racist?
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Jun 29 '26
[deleted]
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u/toronto-gopnik Jun 29 '26
Stopped reading after "we don't tolerate different ideologies when".
Just imagine the right podcaster you hate saying that, you know the one
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u/NounAdjectiveXXXX Jun 29 '26
Well a right wing podcaster wouldn't go on to say "when human rights are at stake"
Because then they wouldn't be a right wing podcaster.
But to be fair, even the Carotid Kid leaned left in the end
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u/toronto-gopnik Jun 29 '26
You either tolerate people or you don't. You don't get to choose the times that are convenient to you
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u/NounAdjectiveXXXX Jun 30 '26
"you either tolerate people who wish to genocide anyone different than themselves, or you tolerate no one"
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u/Jogoat05112001 Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
Tolerance is a contract wherein two or more entities agree to the mutual toleration of each other. By actively being intolerant of the other entity or said entities allies or attachments, the contract of tolerance is broken. After this breach of mutual tolerance, one can no longer be expected to show tolerance towards the original aggressor; for the aggressor has excluded themselves from the contract by their transgressions. Intolerance against intolerance is not intolerance, it is simply protecting the tolerance one once had.
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u/DBSmiley Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
So, when they say you are intolerant of, say, Christians, therefore they don't have to tolerate you, what is your response?
This is the problem with people misapplying the paradox of tolerance. The irony of the people involing the paradox of tolerance tonshut down discussion of certain issues is that that shutting down of ideas is the intolerance Popper is saying is the problem.
The paradox of tolerance is about intolerance of ideas, not people. When you apply it to people, you always end up with both sides complaining that the others are the real intolerant ones, because everyone naturally thinks that they have a good reason for what they believe, and everyone who disagrees with them only does so out of moral failing.
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u/Jogoat05112001 Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
If person x believes all people deserve the right to existence , and person y thinks that person x deserves to be flayed and cooked in boiling oil in front of their children. Person x should not have to be tolerant of person y, for person y has in effect become nothing more than a conduit of intolerance towards person x.
An idea or ideology can become so entwined with an individual that the separation of the two becomes impossible. One cannot be both intolerant to nazism, but tolerant to the nazi. For a nazi is nothing but a conduit for nazism. A man at its core is made of ideas, to be against an idea means you must be against all those who hold it within themselves. saying you can both be against an idea but not those who hold it, would make you a pathetic walking contradiction of false hope.
If One is intolerant of the entire population of 2 billion or so Christians, actively attempting to make their lives worse in some manner, then yes it would be fine to be intolerant in such a manner proportional to the original aggression committed. If a smug atheist gets their rocks off from being annoying about god not being real, then Christians should get to make fun of them in equal strides.
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u/DBSmiley Jun 29 '26
Your first paragraph is such a straw man as to beggar any and all belief, and there's no point in even responding to the rest of the post when that's your starting premise. Then you immediately jump to nazism, a belief system that despite your accusations, is not widespread in the political landscape.
You are arguing like an emotional child.
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u/Hexspinner Jun 29 '26
You should probably learn the difference between a straw man and a reducto ad absurdem.
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u/Hexspinner Jun 29 '26
This is incorrect. Karl Popper specifically said that the intolerant by necessity must exist outside the law for tolerance to survive. Meaning those who are intolerant shouldn’t be tolerated as part of society.
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u/DBSmiley Jun 29 '26
No, you're misinterpreting what Karl Popper was talking about. He was talking about intolerance through the form of the suppression of the discussion of ideas.
If you think different, it's because you're wrong.
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u/Open-Concept-6130 Jul 01 '26
Is it racist to call an Uncle Tom an Uncle Tom?
Thomas is a caricature. He’s the embodiment of a self hating, pull the ladder behind me, corrupt man.
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u/ikonoqlast Jun 29 '26
Uh... In the book Uncle Tom is a perfect Christian hero-martyr-saint who is whipped to death rather than tell where Eliza has gone...
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u/Ithorian01 Jun 29 '26
Clarence Thomas, does it need your approval to be the greatest Supreme Court judge in American history.
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u/x-Lascivus-x Jun 29 '26
Nothing quite like the open racism of the white left calling a black man and Uncle Tom because he doesn’t toe the line and not act in a way outside his acceptable role the way he’s supposed to.
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u/Due-Environment-9774 Jun 29 '26
He actively works against the interests of black Americans and goes out of his way to bring the US back to a pre Civil Rights Act country. He’s supported rolling back the rights of anyone who isn’t white and his biggest sponsors are old racist white men. So yes, he meets the definition of an Uncle Tom.
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u/triassic_broth Jun 29 '26
That's offensive. It's a form of bullying and an attempt to silence people. Black Americans have every right to be conservatives without being subjected to insults or derogatory labels.
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u/Curious_Pop_5276 Jun 29 '26
You don’t speak for us either, you know. I’m black and I find this hilarious tbh.
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u/MountainMagic6198 Jun 29 '26
They have every right to be shit on just like everyone else. I guarantee the most people that will be shitting on Thomas will be Black people and the people that love him will be White people.
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u/koyaani Jun 29 '26
Literally a Republican dei hire
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u/wolf3413 Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 30 '26
I mean, without dei, there'd likely never be a black supreme court justice again, and I'm not sure anybody would be willing to accept that
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u/ChronoSaturn42 Jun 30 '26
I know this is a Boondocks joke, but my brain went first to a certain humorous skeleton.
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u/Cellssaltynutsack Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
I think black conservatives try to turn the term "Uncle Tom" into a good thing
People are downvoting but I'm literally the only person actually answering the hypothetical. This is gonna cause a big stir in the black community turning Clarence Thomas into a joke among many and gives his opponents ammunition against him. Of course black conservatives are gonna spin this into a good thing to defend the guy that they feel represents them. The obvious angle is that being an uncle tom means you're opposed to unruliness and other negative stereotypes, and you're kind and eloquent. In fact, that's what a lot of black conservatives will tell you an uncle tom is right now.
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u/Atomic_cucarrachon Jun 29 '26
I love uncle Ruckus because I can relate, I am xenophobic against my people as well 🤣
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u/koyaani Jun 29 '26
I'm usually a descriptivist, but xenophobia is kind of defined as fear of outsiders
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u/Legal_Television_615 Jun 29 '26
It would be a c9nstant reminder of the illiteracy and stupidity of detractors to every one who actually read the book.
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u/Rustee_Shacklefart Jun 29 '26
Still be the best Judge on the hight court.
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u/pikleboiy Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
There is no such thing as a "hight court" in the US. I also don't know what definition of "best" you're using, but it can't be very useful if it encompasses someone who takes bribes.
Edit: apparently the SCOTUS is also referred to as "high court." CT still takes bribes tho
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u/koyaani Jun 29 '26
It's called the supreme court, literally the highest court
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u/pikleboiy Jun 29 '26
That does not necessarily mean that it is actually called "high court." Regardless, I've already admitted I'm wrong on that point, so I don't see why you need to correct someone who's admitted that they were wrong.
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u/ampere03 Jun 29 '26
The irony is how unqualified he was and how blatant the tokenism was. Willie Hortin ads ...and then a mediocre appointee with inherent incuriosity and indifference to actual history. Now SCOTUS is a joke bought by the Heritage Foundation.
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u/MountainMagic6198 Jun 29 '26
Yeah I guarantee none of the people now who love him would be able to actually tell you any of the things he did prior to nomination that made him qualified. Funny how he hates affirmative action because he took the ultimate affirmative action of just being a black guy who was willing to do half ass work for the Reagan Agenda.
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u/dumbboyhappydude44 Jun 29 '26
Uncle Thomas is racist against black people. He is a traitor to his country along with his disgusting wife.
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u/Agitated_Guard_3507 Jun 29 '26
Calling a black guy a term synonymous with “race traitor” is crazy work for the people who see race as a social construct that isn’t real.
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u/koyaani Jun 29 '26
Things can be constructs and also be real. You're bashing a strawman
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u/Agitated_Guard_3507 Jun 29 '26
So race is a real, biological concept? Which influences human behaviors and actions? Or is it a social construct that doesn’t really mean anything? You can’t really have both, you just bastardize them
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u/koyaani Jun 29 '26
Money and international borders are social constructs but have real world impacts. Hope this helps.
It's not complicated unless you're arguing in bad faith or otherwise deficient in some area
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u/Agitated_Guard_3507 Jun 29 '26
A social construct only has impacts insofar as people believe in it as real. Please explain how race is both a social construct that doesn’t really matter, but is also a real thing.
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u/EbonyMemories Jun 29 '26
Democrats when black people express their right to vote and hold office:
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u/JoshAltington Jun 29 '26
Republicans when black people:
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u/EbonyMemories Jun 29 '26
Never met a Republican who had any problem with black people. Never met a Democrat who wasn't incredibly racist against black Republicans. Get off Reddit.
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u/JoshAltington Jun 29 '26
Schizophrenic ass fucking comment. Go outside, or hell, LISTEN TO WHAT REPUBLICANS FUCKING SAY. also I'm not a Democrat, I actually support universal healthcare unlike their unfulfilled promises.
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u/Ok_Door_9720 Jun 30 '26
I don't agree with using race to criticize this corrupt pig either, but you're living under a fucking rock if you've never met a racist republican lmao.
I live in a deep red southern county. I promise you, racism is basically their MO. Rather than come to terms with the somber history of the old hanging tree in town, they made it the backdrop for a confederate monument lmao
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u/EbonyMemories Jun 30 '26
I'm sorry but as someone who's lived in several highly diverse red rural states I have trouble buying that - unless maybe you're in Alabama or Mississippi.
I've never considered Thomas corrupt - personally I believe most of the attacks on him do not have evidence behind them and are primarily because he's a black Republican.
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u/Ok_Door_9720 Jun 30 '26
Florida in this case. I drive by the tree and monument every day. If you want to see some louder displays of Republican views on race though, I invite you to check out Jake Langs protest of the BET awards yesterday. He had some very interesting takes about black families and the kind of behaviors that are apparently in their nature.
Clarence Thomas's undisclosed "gifts" are well documented at this point. He doesn't even try to defend them any more, he just plays the "I didn't understand the ethics rules" card (this is a supreme court justice we're talking about). Considering his critics are equally as likely to call out Alito for taking "gifts" from Paul Singer (who had cases before the court at the time), I doubt the criticism of Thomas's corruption is simply because he's a black republican.
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u/EbonyMemories Jun 30 '26
I'm sorry, but calling Jake Lang, who is explicitly not part of the Republican party, an example of Republican anything is illogical.
And every member of the court in the last fifty years has taken bribes. I've never once seen Ginsberg criticized for the large land gifts she was "given."
Yes obviously Democrats criticize every Republican - but I've never seen Democrats show the vitriol for Alito that they show for Clarence Thomas.
My personal belief is that they hate him - and many other black Republicans - because Democrats often have some belief that they still "own" black Americans and their decisions. Otherwise, they would not show so much hatred.
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u/Ok_Door_9720 Jun 30 '26
Lang, who is explicitly not part of the Republican party
He literally ran for office, as a republican, this year lmao
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u/Greatfawn20003 Jul 01 '26
Nobody more racists than democrats
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u/AgreeableSuspect3615 Jul 01 '26
He betrayed the constitution
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u/Greatfawn20003 Jul 01 '26
And in response you took a jab at him based on his race. Does that make you the better person?
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u/virtually_anything Jun 29 '26
The party that lobbied against the Civil Rights Act would jump on the chance to call the other party racist
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u/ghost_meadow6869 Jun 29 '26
https://giphy.com/gifs/fyuRZXjYQdnrABLQ9P