(RepublicanNews.org) – House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat from New York, has a history of comparing black conservatives to “house negroes” according to editorials he wrote in a college newspaper.
While at Binghamton University in the early 1990s, Jeffries wrote an editorial called “The Black Conservative Phenomenon.” In the essay, Jeffries wrote that what he saw as a trend in black politics was threatening to “sustain the oppression of the black masses.”
That phenomenon was the existence of conservative black people. Written just a year after Clarence Thomas, who is black, was elevated to the U.S. Supreme Court, Jeffries’ essay singled out Thomas’ appointment.
The article discussed what Jeffries saw as the difference between a “field negro” and a “house negro.” The “field negro,” he wrote, “labored from dusk ’til dawn”, while the “house negro” didn’t work as hard and acted as a domestic servant.
Jeffries wrote that “house negro(es)” wanted to emulate their white masters, while the “field negro” had contempt for his white owners.
The clear implication was that conservative black public figures such as Thomas, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, and author Shelby Steele were “house negroes” who sold out their race for the privileges of being favored by white society.
In the essay, Jeffries also expressed contempt for “token blacks.” He said black conservative politicians did not care about “the upliftment of their people”, but are instead “right-wing opportunists” in exchange for being raised to positions “historically reserved for whites.”
In the college editorial, Jeffries showed a preference for more confrontational black leaders. He defended Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, widely seen as anti-Jewish. Jeffries also stuck up for his own uncle, Leonard Jeffries, a black studies professor who lost his job over “incendiary comments” about Jews.
Referring to Farrakhan and to his uncle Leonard Jeffries, Hakeem Jeffries wrote that both men “have come under intensive fire.” But people like his uncle challenged the white power structure, Jeffries wrote.
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